Norman mother to face trial in toddler's death

Woman was charged under the state's `failure to protect' law

NORMAN — A Nor man woman charged in the New Year's Day death of her 2-yearold son will face trial, a judge ruled Thursday. Supporters of 28-year-old Rebecca Latane Hogue, however, claim she is being unfairly prosecuted for a crime she didn't commit.

In June, the state' s multicounty grand jury indicted Hogue, 28, on a charge of first-degree murder by permitting child abuse. Grand jurors alleged that she is to blame for the beating death of Jeremiah Ryder Johnson because she left him in the care of her boyfriend, Christopher James Trent, who died shortly after the child's death. Grand jurors alleged she knew or reasonably should have known her son was at risk of abuse or neglect in her boyfriend's care.

Under Oklahoma' s socalled“failure to protect” laws, enabling child abuse is a felony that can carry the same punishments as child abuse — up to life in prison.

Critics of the law say it unfairly punishes domestic violence victims who sometimes are afraid or unable to seek help.

In some cases, people who committed no abuse and were victims of abuse themselves do more time behind bars than the actual abusers.

“We believe that failure to protect laws are sexist and that overwhelmingly those prosecutions are targeted at women and mothers for the crimes of t heir male partners,” said Danielle Williams, president of the Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice.

Williams compared Hogue's case to that of Tondalao Hall, who spent 15 years in prison for failing to protect her children from their abusive father. Their father, who admitted to breaking the leg, ribs and toe of their daughter when she was 3 months old, served just two years in jail and was released. Gov. Kevin Stitt commuted Hall's 30-year prison sentence in November.

Williams told The Oklahoma non Friday she believes Hogue's prosecution is excessive and politically motivated by the Cleveland County District Attorney's office. Williams and others who gathered outside the courthouse during Hogue's preliminary hearing Thursday called on District Attorney Greg Mashburn to reduce her $1 million bond and “drop the prosecution.”

“Rebecca didn't hurt anybody ,” she said .“She' s a grieving mother. She's as much of a victim as anyone else in this case.”

Reached Friday, Mashburn said he didn't see why dropping the case or cutting Hogue's bond “would be appropriate” because a grand jury indicted Hogue and District Judge Scott Brockman found enough evidence to send her to trial.

Hogue told police she left her son with Trent when she went to work about 3 p.m. Dec. 31. She said Trent and her son were asleep when she returned around 4:10 a.m. Jan. 1 to her duplex. She called 911 when she awoke and found her son cold to the touch and turning blue, according to police. Trent had left.

A manhunt for Trent shut down the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Oklahoma after his pickup was found in the area. The search ended Jan. 4 when his body was found in the refuge. Comanche County Sheriff Kenny Stradley said at the time Trent apparently hanged himself. He was 38.

A police investigation found that the boy had been injured when left in Trent' s care before.