10-year-old girl charged with manslaughter in death of Clinton baby

FAIRFIELD, Maine — A 10-year-old girl has been charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of a 3-month-old baby last month.

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Brooklyn Foss-Greenaway

John Martin of Skowhegan, the girl’s attorney, was served with a court summons Thursday afternoon, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said in a press release. The girl is scheduled to appear in Skowhegan District Court on Monday, Oct. 22.

The girl’s name is being withheld by police.

McCausland would not say if the girl was the baby sitter of the infant.

“We’re not discussing her role or getting into any more details on her identity, although we feel she is responsible for the baby’s death,” said McCausland. “Manslaughter was the appropriate charge.”

Three-month-old Brooklyn Foss-Greenaway of Clinton died on July 8 while under the care of a baby sitter in Fairfield. State police declared the death a homicide Wednesday.

“The decision on charging the girl was made after consulting with the attorney general’s office,” said McCausland, who declined to give any additional details about the death. “The state medical examiner’s office continues to work on the case.”

The 10-year-old girl is now in custody of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, he said.

McCausland said the girl is the youngest person in Maine to be charged with manslaughter in at least 25 years.

“I have not done any research farther out than that,” he said.

The death of any child under age 3 automatically triggers an investigation.

The baby’s parents live in Clinton and had arranged for the child to spend the night at the baby sitter’s Fairfield home, according to The Associated Press.

Emergency officials arrived just six minutes after receiving a call in the early morning hours that the child was unresponsive and not breathing.

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Comments

hawaiian's picture
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10-year-old girl charged with manslaughter in death of Clinton

all 18:00 HST ª Thursday
" McCausland said the girl is the youngest person in Maine to be charged with manslaughter in at least 25 years , " and , " The 10-year-old girl is now in custody of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, he said. "
Charge the parents with negligent homicide , if there are any to be found
h t h Ω /s , Steve

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Baby

Does this little girl undersdtand what she has done? She is only 10 years old...Did she mean to kill the baby?

nickj's picture
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Unfortunately for this little

Unfortunately for this little girl, she didn't have to mean to do it. Thats why its manslaughter and not murder. Manslaughter only requires that she acted "recklessly or with criminal negligence." I don't want to jump the gun and say much until the whole storey is out but if the baby was left alone with a ten year old, especially for the night, then the parents of the baby are the ones that acted with negligence. I have a daughter that is almost ten and she is extremely bright but I would not put the responsibilty of an infant on her. There are a lot of adults that cant hanle the stress ofa baby never mind a ten year old.

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Age

I agree with you...Too young to take care of an infant...

nickj's picture
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From some comments I just

From some comments I just read, it seems some people are saying the girl was not the babysitter. I dont know if the have personal knowledge of it but I read the article three times and still dont see where it leads one way or the other.

nickj's picture
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Brenda, news 13's report says

Brenda, news 13's report says the babys mother said the ten year old is the daughter of the babysitter. I guess that answers that question

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