Mother Is Acquitted in Her Son’s Suicide
The state Supreme Court overturned a mother’s conviction on charges that she contributed to her 12-year-old son’s suicide by keeping a dirty house.
In ordering the trial court to acquit Judith Scruggs of Meriden, the court said the law used to convict her was unconstitutionally vague.
Scruggs was convicted of risk of injury to a minor in 2003, a year and a half after her son, J. Daniel, hanged himself with a necktie in his closet. Legal experts said it was thought to be the first time a parent had been convicted over a child’s suicide.
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