FARMINGTON – A Salem woman whose 4-year-old daughter almost died after a baby sitter administered prescription drugs to her in July testified on behalf of the defendant in Franklin County Superior Court on Wednesday.
Struggling to hold back tears, Heather Jackson asked Justice Joseph Jabar to grant Stacy Wills’ plea agreement on charges of unlawful furnishing of scheduled drugs and endangering the welfare of a child. The judge allowed the agreement.
“She’s like a sister to me, she always has been,” Jackson said of the troubled 30-year-old whom she had taken in to her home and has been friends with for six years. “I didn’t believe she’d ever hurt (her child). She’s got a big heart, but she’s easily influenced and sometimes does things with the wrong people,” she said.
“She needs help,” she continued. “I hope she’ll learn she’s not a bad person and that she can be a good person.”
Wills admitted to police during an interview in mid-July that she had given half a prescription pill to the girl while watching her over the Fourth of July weekend. When Jackson returned home, she found her daughter lethargic and drooling, with her eyes rolled back in her head, according to Detective Tom White of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department in July. She was taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital, where Jackson “didn’t know for three days if she would live or die,” she said during her testimony Wednesday.
She thought she was doing the right thing but later realized her mistake, Assistant Attorney General David Fisher said to the judge. He suggested Wills be considered for residential psychological and substance abuse counseling, although that decision would ultimately be up to probation officers.
Wills is currently in counseling, her attorney, Kevin Joyce, said on her behalf. He asked for a stay of execution to allow her to attend appointments with her counselor and psychiatrist.
Jabar granted the plea agreement, sentencing her to 364 days in jail with all but 30 days suspended and one year probation for each of the two counts, to be served consecutively. Probation conditions are that she undergo random search and testing and not use illegal drugs. Wills was ordered to start serving her jail sentence on Nov. 7.
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