Trial scheduled to open for woman accused in death of son

His older sister ran from the bathroom inside her Immokalee home. She had to find mom.

She found April Hawkins in a bedroom. She was folding and putting clothes into a dresser.

Hawkins, 28, had put her 12-year-old daughter in charge of bathing her brother, Dave Scott Crump, and their 3-year-old sister. The water was left running with the drain open to keep water from accumulating over about 1 foot.

But one of the children had put the stopper back in.

Scott fell and drowned. His sister alerted Hawkins to the emergency. But it was too late.

Hawkins faces a jury beginning Tuesday, Nov. 18, as state prosecutors try to hold her responsible for her son's death.

Charged with aggravated manslaughter, Hawkins could face up to 30 years in state prison.

The trial, expected to last two or three days, will come down to one question: Do six men and women believe Hawkins was criminally negligent by failing to monitor her son?

Or will the jurors side with Hawkins' attorney, Nelson Faerber Jr., who argues the boy's death was a tragic accident that doesn't rise to the level of a criminal offense?

"She misses her kid, and with having this trial hanging over her head she hasn't been able to grieve," Faerber said. "She feels responsible. She's the mom and she feels responsible, but not criminally liable."

Faerber failed several months ago to persuade the presiding judge, Frank Baker, to dismiss the case. Faerber argued there's nothing unusual or negligent about a mother asking a 12-year-old child to help her by looking after her younger siblings.

Manslaughter occurs when a person's actions are so negligent, reckless or careless that they result in a death, even one that's not intentional. Faerber argues no action of Hawkins resulted in or caused the death of her son.

Instead, state prosecutor Steve Maresca is only beating up on a mother who is devastated over the death of a child, Faerber argued. The boy, who went by his middle name, Scott, died at Lee Memorial Hospital on June 19, 2002, the day after the drowning at his home, 485 N. 17th St. The boy's father wasn't present when his son drowned.

Faerber has cast a sizable bet taking the case to trial. He said his client turned down Maresca's plea offer calling for probation, not jail or prison time. Under the terms, she would have been formally convicted of manslaughter.

"It would be going through the rest of her life adjudicated guilty of killing her child. She's not going to do accept that. All (the prosecutor) can do is go to trial or drop the charge," Faerber said.

Hawkins is likely to testify, although that decision won't be made for certain until the defense case opens, Faerber said.

"She's nervous. She's afraid. But I met with her yesterday and she's ready," Faerber said.

Maresca won't comment on the facts of the case. On the prosecutor's side are three important facts -- a child is dead, Hawkins was home but not watching her kids, and the mother already had a bad history with the Florida Department of Children and Families.

But a pretrial motion from Faerber granted by Baker will bar any reference to Hawkins' DCF history, including temporary loss of custody of her children. Jurors also won't hear any allegations of her drug use.

DCF officials had an open file on Hawkins before the baby's death. DCF officials say Hawkins was a chronic marijuana user who, on the morning she was in labor with Scott tested positive for marijuana.

Sheriff's Office investigators say Hawkins' home was filthy with trash and dog feces. Maresca said he intends to introduce photos of that as a way of painting a picture to jurors of what kind of negligent parent Hawkins has been. Faerber will fight such photos from coming in as evidence.

Two of Hawkins' three remaining children, ages 12 and 7, may testify. Maresca said each is on his witness list. Faerber said the attorneys took videotaped interviews of the two eldest children, and if both sides agree, the tapes could be played in lieu of live testimony.

"I think it would be horrible to put (the children) through this," Faerber said.

Hawkins pleaded innocent from the beginning and remains out of jail on the $1,500 cash bond she posted after her July 9, 2002, arrest.

The case has received a lot of pretrial media coverage. Both attorneys said that will be a factor during jury selection as they seek people who don't have firm opinions or knowledge of the case because of news stories they have read.

According to court papers filed by Faerber, Hawkins had returned from a family trip and was doing chores as two of her children bathed. Her 12-year-old daughter, Shya, was in charge of monitoring the children. The girl had turned on the water but purposely left the drain stopper out.

Both mother and her eldest daughter were close enough to hear and check on the children during the approximately 30 minutes they were in the tub. About five minutes after Shya last checked on the children, 3-year-old Hazel, one of the youngsters in the tub, ran and told her older sister that David had fallen.

Investigators determined Hawkins routinely placed the tub drain stopper out of the reach of the younger children. However, the older son, Johnny, 7, had bathed before his sisters and had left the stopper in a place where Hazel could reach it and put it in the drain.

What remains are a dead child, a criminal case and a jury impaneled today to decide it. Opening arguments are expected to begin in the afternoon in Courtroom 3A of the Collier County Courthouse.