Ex-sitter admits guilt in baby's 1994 death
Once two days from execution, she may be released in four years.
Once just two days away from execution, former baby sitter Cathy Lynn Henderson on Friday ple aded guilty to murder in the 1994 death of an infant and was sentenced to 25 years in prison, months before her case was to go to trial a second time.
The 58-year-old woman, who had been charged with the higher offense of capital mur- der in the killing of 3-month-old Brandon Baugh, hobbled into the courtroom on crutches with the help of her lawyers. After a litany of appeals based on new scientific evidence favorable to her defense, she no longer faced the death penalt y but could have been punished with up to life in prison if convicted.
The outcome caps a Travis County case that dominated headlines and stirred debate on the advances in the fifield of
pediatric head injur ies and their use as a defense in the courtroom.
Prosecutors said the resolution was just, given the deaths of several key witnesses and the change in medical opinion from former Travis County Chief Medical Examiner Rober to Bayardo regarding how the child might have sustained the injur ies.
“It spared the victim’s family the anguish of another trial,” lead prosecutor Beverly Matthews said in a statement.
Some supporters of the Baugh family said they were relieved to see Henderson ple ad guilty after more than two decades of lies and denials. But Brandon’s parents, grandmother and sister said they had been surprised and disappointed to learn of the plea agreement.
“I have no doubts that your plea today is not an act of contrition but another act of selfishness in order to gain your freedom,” Brandon’s father, Eryn Baugh, told Henderson as he slammed his hand down on the witness stand and shot her a look of disdain.
Melissa Baugh, the child’s mother, held up a small jumpsuit imprinted with green dinosaurs. “This is all we have left of Brandon,” she said. “These are the clothes Brandon has on in the pictures taken right before his death.”
Before the court, the couple and their loved ones recounted the most harrowing facts of the investigation: Brandon’s body had been stuff ed in a wine cooler box and concealed in Henderson’s trunk; Henderson had kidnapped their 2-year-old daughter, changed her identity and attempted to flee.
The years of anger and frustration that followed had been hell, they said, and closure was elusive. Outside the courtroom, the parents told reporters that prosecutors had worked tirelessly but had “fumbled” the case in the end.
Henderson spent nearly two decades in prison for killing the baby before a sharply divided Court of Criminal Appeals overturned her capital murder conviction and sentence in December 2012. Henderson claimed Brandon died after slipping from her arms and falling about 4 feet to the conc rete floor in her home in the Pfl uger ville area. She said she panicked, buried his body in a Bell County fifield and fled to Missouri, where she was found and arre sted 11 days later.
In upholding a recommendation by state District Judge Jon Wisser, the state appeals court ordered that she have a new trial based on new discoveries into the nature of head injuries, including studies which showed falls of less than 4 feet can be lethal, producing complex skull fractures similar to those Brandon suffffered.
Henderson, who is eli - gible for parole, was given credit for time already served and could be released in four years, according to the terms of her plea deal.
On Friday, she stood before state District Judge Karen Sage in a faded, black-and-white striped jumpsuit.
She spoke only in response to a few short questions from Sage and gave little sign of emotion.
“Cathy Henderson was fewer than 48 hours from being executed,” said Jon Evans, one of her lawyers. “Because of the work and dedication of an amazing group of lawyers, medical experts and supporters, including (death penalty activist) Sister Helen Prejean, her life was saved. However, today is about baby Brandon Baugh, and hopefully bringing some closure to his family.”