Challenge coming in shaken-baby case

By Tracy M. Neal Staff Writer tracyn@nwanews.com

Posted on Tuesday, March 22, 2005

URL: http://www.nwanews.com/story/bcdr/18630

BENTONVILLE — Attorneys for a baby sitter accused of causing injuries that resulted
in a 4-month-old’s death as a result of shaken baby syndrome will challenge whether the
case is a capital case.

Samantha Anne Mitchell, 30, of Rogers, appeared in court Monday for her initial court
appearance after her arrest Saturday on a capital murder charge. Prosecutors have not
filed a formal charge against Mitchell.

Chief Deputy Prosecuting Van Stone expects charges to be filed this week against
Mitchell.

If convicted of the charge, Mitchell could be sentenced to the death penalty or life in
prison without the benefit of parole. Stone said it is too early in the investigation to make
a decision as to whether to seek the death penalty in the case. "We want to learn more
about Mrs. Mitchell, her past and the circumstance of this crime before we make this
call," Stone said. "The state can only seek the death penalty in limited circumstances
called aggravating circumstances. The state must investigate those circumstances as any
other elements of the crime."

Police arrested Mitchell, 30, last Wednesday for battery in the first degree, a class B
felony. Her bond was set at $50,000, but Rogers detectives arrested her Saturday at the
jail on a charge of capital murder, a class Y felony. A bond was not set Monday on the
capital murder charge. Rogers attorney Kristin Pawlik, who stood in for Mitchell’s
attorney, Drew Miller, asked the court to waive Monday’s hearing. Pawlik asked Circuit
Judge David Clinger to schedule a probable cause hearing in the case because defense
attorneys will be challenging the fact that Mitchell’s case is a capital murder case.

A capital murder provision that Mitchell could be charged with states that under
circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, a person
knowingly causes the death of a person 14 years of age or younger at the time the murder
was committed, provided that the defendant was 18 years of age or older at the time the
murder was committed.

Clinger scheduled the probable cause hearing for 9 a.m. April 7.

Police began investigating the incident March 15 after being alerted by doctors in the
emergency room at St. Mary’s Hospital. The 4-month-old infant — Dominick Sanders —
was taken to the hospital by his mother. She took him after he began having seizures.
Doctors determined that the seizures were caused by bleeding and swelling of the brain,
according to an affidavit of probable cause.

The child was taken to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. According to a
probable cause affidavit in the case, the baby was on life support at Children’s Hospital
and was dependent on a respirator and medication to control his blood pressure and heart
rate.

He died of his injuries at 7:30 a.m. Saturday.

Doctors from Children’s Hospital told police the infant’s injuries were consistent with
being violently shaken, according to the affidavit.

According to the Web site for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and
Stroke, shaken baby syndrome is a severe form of head injury that occurs when a baby is
shaken forcibly enough to cause the baby's brain to bounce against the skull.

The shaking may cause bruising, swelling and bleeding of the brain, which may lead to
permanent, severe brain damage or death. Symptoms include changes in behavior,
irritability, lethargy, loss of consciousness, pale or bluish skin, vomiting and convulsions.
Although there usually are no outward physical signs of trauma, there may be broken,
injured or dislocated bones and injuries to the neck and spine.

Reggie Sanders, the boy’s father, told an investigator that Mitchell had been baby-sitting
his son for seven days, the affidavit states.

Sanders dropped his son off at the sitter’s at 7:45 a.m. March 15, and his wife picked the
boy up at 5:15 p.m.

Sanders said his wife called him to report she thought something was wrong with their
son and asked her husband to come home, the affidavit states. The mother noticed the
baby was acting lethargic when she picked him up.

According to the affidavit, with the use of a doll, Mitchell told a detective she held the
child face down over her right arm, which is in a cast, while she used her left hand and
foot to try opening a swing to set Dominick in. Mitchell said she was frustrated by not
being able to open the swing and had to set the child down two or three times, the
affidavit states.

During the demonstration of how it happened, the motion the doll went through during
the demonstration caused its head to rock back and forth, according to the affidavit.

Mitchell denied violently shaking the infant, the affidavit states.

Doctors at Children’s Hospital told authorities that the onset of symptoms was consistent
with the injury happening before the baby’s mother arrived to take him home.

Also during Monday’s hearing, Pawlik told the judge Mitchell was not allowed to shower
or bathe before her court appearance.

Mitchell told Clinger she was not allowed to shower before coming to court. Her arm was
wrapped Friday, and she was allowed to shower, but her 6 a.m. Monday request was
ignored, Mitchell said.

Last week, Clinger heard complaints that inmates were not allowed to shave. "I don’t
know what’s going on out there," Clinger said. "They are entitled to bath."

Clinger asked Stone to check into Mitchell’s complaint.