LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — One of three people indicted in connection with the death of a 7-year-old boy in state custody at a Louisville foster care facility four years ago appeared in court Monday morning.
Deborah Francis, Amanda Whitlow and Jillian Parks were indicted July 15 on one count each of second-degree complicity to manslaughter in the death of 7-year-old Ja'Ceon Terry.
Terry died July 17, 2022. According to court documents, he was rushed to Norton Children's Hospital after two employees at Brooklawn Child and Family Services placed him in a physical restraint for five to six minutes. The position he was put in prevented him from breathing and ultimately caused his death, police said.
The Jefferson County Coroner's Office said Terry died from positional asphyxia. Positional asphyxia occurs when someone's body position interferes with their ability to breathe, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Terry's death was ruled a homicide but, until earlier this month, no one had been criminally charged.
Francis was taken into custody in Lexington July 22 on a warrant, while Whitlow was arrested on a warrant July 15 while on vacation in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Commonwealth's Attorney Gerina Whethers' office said a grand jury found "no true bill" on a count of complicity to reckless homicide.
According to a copy of the indictment, the grand jury alleges Francis, Whitlow and Parks, "acting alone, together, or in complicity with others," committed manslaughter when they "wantonly caused the death" of Terry on July 17, 2022.
The document provided no additional details on their involvement in Terry's death. It's also unclear how Francis, Parks and Whitlow are connected to Brooklawn.
All three were scheduled to be arraigned in court Monday morning, which was the rescheduled date after none of them showed up for arraignment last week. But only Parks appeared. Her father was also there to pay her bond so she could be released. Francis was brought to Jefferson County Monday morning, but was not in the courtroom. Whitlow was also not in court, but her attorney was.
"This occurred four years ago and she cooperated throughout. There was a civil matter that went all the way through to trial and worked a resolution, I think, and she was here for all throughout that, cooperated throughout," Whitlow's attorney Mike Goodwin said.
Whitlow is still in custody in Tennessee. All three are expected back in court Oct. 27.
The indictments came more than three years after a settlement was reached in a wrongful death lawsuit filed in Terry's death. Terry's estate and Uspiritus-Brooklawn reached a private settlement in May 2023 — meaning it's unknown how much money is involved or what any other terms of the agreement are.
Court records show at least one employee testified she had the situation under control and the child didn't need to be restrained. The employees who put Terry in the physical restraint were fired. They later asserted their Fifth Amendment rights and declined to testify during a deposition.
Attorneys for Terry's estate also subpoenaed a former Brooklawn employee who could establish a pattern of abuse at the facility.
Nicole Richardson claims she was fired for reporting emotional and physical abuse by staff that she witnessed, including: dragging juveniles naked on the floor and yelling loudly; waterboarding a juvenile in the hallway with a cooler full of water; threats of violence from staff members to juveniles. She also claimed she was aware of another co-worker breaking the elbow of a juvenile, and more.
Richardson later settled a lawful termination lawsuit against the facility. Just days after a judge ruled she could testify about the abuse she witnessed, Uspiritus-Brooklawn settled with Terry's estate.
The child's biological mother told WDRB's partner station, LEX18 News, she isn't involved in the lawsuit and believes it was filed by the child's former foster family.
"They said my child would be safer in foster care than with me, but see the outcome of what happened," Dominique Terry told the news outlet in September 2022.
Following an investigation by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, the state removed children from Brooklawn facilities in December 2022. At the time, the CHFS said that prior to Terry's death, there weren't any complaints or patterns of abusive behavior at Brooklawn, but said it was still investigating "additional allegations."
The Kentucky Office of Inspector General, Cabinet for Health and Family Services, also conducted an investigation and revoked three Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities licenses held by Uspiritus, which appealed the revocation.
The office's report cited Uspiritus' "failure to maintain direct care staffing ratios;" "Failure to prohibit cruel and unusual disciplinary measures, including verbal abuse, ridicule or humiliation;" "Failure to record and retain the records for all incidents or accidents that present a direct or immediate threat to the health, safety or security of any resident or staff member;" and for "Failure to properly use emergency safety interventions" as the reasoning behind the revocation.
"These areas of non-compliance ultimately led to the death of a child," the report continued.
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