"The sentencing of Jason Strickland was handed down three years after the case drew national attention when the state prematurely sought to remove [Haleigh] Poutre's life support after she fell into a coma from a near-fatal head injury in September 2005. A few months later, just when the state won court approval to end her life, saying her condition was 'hopeless,' the 11-year-old girl became alert, breathing on her own and responding to commands."
     From "Poutre stepfather gets 12-15 years in prison," by Patricia Wen, which appeared in the Boston Globe.

A friend sent a link to this story which actually ran back in December. It is a story of almost soul-crushing brutality and callousness saved from utter disaster because Haleigh began to respond just in the nick of time.

Haleigh Poutre

We've written several times about Haleigh's terrible plight. When Hampden Superior Court Judge Judd Carhart sentenced Jason Strickland in December, it was for his part in what Wen characterized as a "horrific pattern of child abuse." During the three-week-long trial Strickland asserted innocence, saying that he accepted the explanation of his late wife, Holi, for the many wounds on Haleigh--that she "had a psychological condition that caused her to hurt herself."

As Wen wrote, "That explanation had also been accepted, over a five-year period, by the child's pediatricians, therapists, and state social workers, who dismissed allegations from neighbors and teachers that Haleigh was being abused in her home."

Added Wen, "The jury ultimately found that Jason Strickland may not have dealt the near-fatal blow to Haleigh's head, but that he was guilty of 'recklessly permitting' the injury to occur. The panel found him guilty of five of the six counts, including several instances of striking Haleigh in the summer of 2005."

In September 2005, Haleigh's adoptive mother and stepfather, Holi and Jason Strickland, brought the bruised and unconscious Haleigh to the emergency room of Noble Hospital in Westfield, Massachusetts, "saying she had become unresponsive after suffering flu like symptoms," the Boston Globe reported.

"Within two days, the Department of Social Services took custody of the couple's two other children, and a week later the couple was criminally charged in connection with Haleigh's traumatic brain injuries." Haleigh was 11 at the time.

Incredibly, only six days after the Massachusetts Department of Social Services (DSS) took custody of Haleigh, it asked Juvenile Court Judge James G. Collins for permission to remove her feeding tube and ventilator. According to the Boston Globe, on October 5, 2005, Collins gave the agency the go-ahead.

Fortunately, Haleigh (who, supposedly, was "in a vegetative state," and "had suffered a severe brain injury, and probably would never think or feel again") began to breath on her own and show "increased responsiveness." This came on January 18, 2006, less than 24 hours after the Supreme Judicial Court had backed the lower court's death order.

"A week later, DSS Commissioner Harry Spence witnessed her picking up a duck and a Curious George doll on command and tracking some of his movements with her eyes," according to the Globe's Wen. On Jan. 26, DSS transferred Haleigh to the Franciscan Hospital for Children in Brighton, where she lives and receives physical, speech, and occupational therapy.

The irony is that the only reason she had remained on life support was because of Jason Strickland's appeals, "which delayed the process long enough that Haleigh's condition began to improve," the Globe reported.

I look forward to reading your comments. Please send to daveandrusko@gmail.com.

Part Two -- Autistic Babies Should Not Be Killed. Period