METH BABY'S MOM TO STAND TRIAL

The Tulsa woman is charged with second-degree murder in the infant's death.

A woman whose 1-day-old baby died with methamphetamine in its system must
face trial for second-degree murder, a Tulsa judge ruled Thursday. The
conduct of Virginia Lee Patton, also known as Virginia Walkup, placed the
newborn in "imminent" danger and displayed an indifference to the welfare of
"the drug-addicted baby," said Special Judge Todd Singer.

"There is no legal precedent in Oklahoma courts which either establishes or
vitiates any bright line rule regarding a mother's accountability in the
birthing of her children," Singer said in a decision[ 4] issued a month
after testimony concluded at a preliminary hearing.

However, there is sufficient evi dence to determine that First Assistant
District Attorney Sharon Ashe met the legal burden to establish "probable
cause" to support a second-degree murder charge, the judge ruled.

That charge hinges upon a legal theory that Patton -- although she had no
premeditated intent to kill -- engaged in "imminently dangerous conduct"
with reckless disregard of the infant's safety.

Patton, 41, was charged under two different second-degree murder theories.
However, Singer rejected an alternative "felony murder" option, linked to an
allegation that she caused the death while committing the felony crime of
possessing methamphetamine.

Patton has been in the Tulsa Jail since being charged and arrested on Oct.
13.

She had been denied bail until Thursday, when Singer set bail at $75,000. If
she manages to post bond, she must immediately go to a drug treatment
facility, the judge ordered.

Police said Patton gave birth to a girl around 4 a.m. July 6 at her Tulsa
residence.

The baby was pronounced dead about 19 hours later, after the mother summoned
emergency medical assistance upon noticing that the newborn was not
breathing, police reported.

When questioned July 16, the defendant admitted that she used
methamphetamine during the pregnancy and said she "did crank
(methamphetamine) six to eight hours prior to the infant's birth," said an
affidavit by Detective Whit ney Allen.

Patton had previously given live birth -- always at a hospital -- to six
other children. The sixth child was placed for adoption after being born in
1997.

Patton said that on July 6, she got into a tub of cold water to give birth,
using scissors and an electrical clamp on the umbilical cord, according to
police.

Dr. Robert Hemphill, medical examiner, testified that "significant
concentrations of methamphetamine were revealed in the pathology of the
child's blood, liver tissue and brain tissue and contributed to the baby's
death," said Singer's four-page decision.

Hemphill said the cause of death was the "probable combined effects of
adverse environmental conditions and methamphetamine."

Hemphill found "no definitive anatomical cause of death" and determined that
the levels of methamphetamine in the infant "were not lethal," said defense
attorney C. Rabon Martin.

Medical testimony regarding adverse environmental factors -- such as the
submerged birth, temperature and nourishment -- "constituted nothing more
than rank speculation," Martin maintained.

Ashe noted that Hemphill ruled out natural causes, diseases and blunt-force
trauma as possible causes of death.

The medical examiner indicated that the baby would have lived, even with the
methamphetamine in its system, if born in a hospital, according to Singer.

The judge said it was not rea sonable for Patton -- who used reasonable
birthing methods on six prior occasions -- to submit "an infant to an
unassisted, under-[ 4] water-birth which could have easily resulted in the
child's drowning."

Patton did not seek appropriate medical attention although she realized that
her child was not accepting nourishment throughout the day, and there is
evidence that Patton "was clearly aware" that the newborn was not sleeping
much because of methamphetamine in its system, Singer said.

Even though they were "not the `typical' types of child abuse acts seen in
many child death cases," there were "acts of child abuse perpetrated" in
this case, Ashe said in a brief.

Martin said the "simple truth is that Dr. Hemphill cannot say with any
degree of medical certainty what caused this child's death."

Patton "showed appropriate maternal concern" by clipping the umbilical cord,
cradling the child and taking steps to provide warmth and nourishment, the
defense lawyer indicated.

In a brief, Martin said that while the consumption of drugs by an expectant
mother "is not to be condoned, neither can it form a basis for criminal
prosecution. This woman has suffered the loss of a child because of an
addiction which enslaved her to the continuing ingestion of
methamphetamine."

The possible sentence for second-degree murder ranges from 10 years to life
in prison.

Bill Braun can be reached at 581-8455.