Trial Over Death of Baby Delayed

A Riverside County judge dismissed a murder charge Monday against a Mead Valley woman accused of killing her 3-month-old son with methamphetamine-tainted breast milk, but his ruling permitted prosecutors to refile the charge hours later. Superior Court Judge Paul E. Zellerbach dismissed the second-degree murder case against Amy Leanne Prien, 31, after the prosecutor asked to delay the trial to investigate a new defense witness.

However, supervising Deputy Dist. Atty. Allison Nelson quickly refiled the charge against Prien and added three felony counts of child endangerment and a misdemeanor count of being under the influence of methamphetamine.

“It is in the interest of justice to proceed on this case,” Nelson said. “We feel this 3-month-old boy was murdered by his mother.”

Prien is expected to be arraigned Wednesday. If she is convicted, her sentence could be from 19 years to life in prison, Nelson said.

Prien’s son, Jacob Wesley Smith, died in January 2002 of what the Riverside County coroner originally labeled sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). A month later, a toxicology report showed that the boy had overdosed on methamphetamine. Investigators concluded that the only way such a lethal dose could have entered the boy’s body was through Prien’s breast milk.

County prosecutors have said that a murder conviction would be the first of its kind in the state.

On Monday, Zellerbach dismissed the case after Nelson requested a 30-day stay to better prepare for an expert defense witness. That witness, Dr. Steven Karch, a cardiac pathologist from Alameda County, concluded that the infant had died from SIDS, said Stephen Yagman, Prien’s attorney.

“The People refused to proceed to trial,” Zellerbach said after his ruling. “We’ve been trailing this case for a month already and I felt they had sufficient time to prepare. I had a jury panel waiting, and the prosecution said it was refusing to proceed at all, even with jury selection. This is extremely uncommon. I’m sick about it. It was a significant waste of time and effort.”

Zellerbach said his decision was made after he granted two previous continuances over Yagman’s objections.

On April 8, Nelson took over the case from a prosecutor who was appointed to a judgeship, one reason she requested more time to prepare. On Friday, the 4th District Court of Appeals denied Nelson’s request for a four-day stay.

Nelson said she needed the extra time to investigate Karch. She accused Yagman of “playing hide the ball” by waiting until April 11 to identify Karch as a defense witness.

“The whole case is bogus,” Yagman said.

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Times staff writer Henry Weinstein contributed to this report.