State v. Fitzgerald

STEPHAN, Judge.

Appellant Laura Fitzgerald was convicted of one count of child abuse and one count of second degree assault. The trial court sentenced her to one year on each count, to run concurrently, and to fines totalling $100.

In late June 1987, Myrtle Purnell and Eileen Immken, two workers at the Kingdom House Day Care Center in St. Louis, noticed cuts on the hand, wrist, and arm of appellant’s daughter, Keni, who was eleven months old at the time. Appellant claimed to have no knowledge of how the injuries occurred, and stated that demons or spirits must have caused them. The lacerations…