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January 24, 2005
Caseworker not guilty of neglect
Jury says she did obstruct death probe
January 24, 2005 [Associated Press]
INDIANAPOLIS – A jury Saturday found a former child welfare caseworker not guilty of neglect, but said she did obstruct an investigation into an abuse-related death of a 4-year-old boy she helped place with adoptive parents.
Marion Superior Court jurors deliberated for more than eight hours before finding Denise C. Moore, 43, guilty of obstruction of justice, but not guilty of two counts of neglect. Her sentencing was scheduled for February 23
The case had given people a behind-the-scenes look at the high number of cases and high turnover inside the state’s system for protecting abused and neglected children. Several caseworkers testified that they feel pressured to place children in adoptive homes and that they deal with too many cases.
Defense attorney Jack Crawford said he was pleased that Moore had been acquitted of the most serious charges.
Prosecutors claimed Moore lied about doing a background check on L.B. and Latricia Bars, the couple who adopted twins Anthony and Latoya Bars in 1999
They argued that a proper check would have found three substantiated cases of abuse in the Barses’ home and shown that L.B. Bars was convicted in 1987 of felony battery for whipping his daughter with an extension cord.
Beaten and starved, Anthony, 4, died in January 2002
Latoya is mentally handicapped from the abuse. The Barses were convicted of child neglect with Latricia Bars sentenced to 13 years in prison, and L.B. Bars sentenced to eight years.
“By the jury’s verdict, they found her not guilty of hurting those kids, which is what we claimed all along,” Crawford said.
Crawford argued during this week’s trial that Moore had a caseload of more than 100 children in the Marion County Office of Family and Children, well above the limit of 35 ordered by a federal court. Crawford said during the trial that the responsibility of placing the children with the couple was not just Moore’s.
If the proper background check were done, the information on L.B. Bars would have been enough to block the adoption, prosecutors said.
Moore’s supervisor Mary Kettery testified Thursday that Moore’s work had deteriorated during the time the state placed the twins with the couple with an abusive past.
Kettery said Moore carried an average caseload of about 39 children.
When questioned by the defense, Kettery said that number could have climbed to more than 100 at times.
Kettery testified that although she approved the twins adoption, it was Moore’s job to give her the appropriate background information.
Posted by Nancy at January 24, 2005 12:40 PM