Woman accused of starving baby to death
Shantavia Carolyn-Lolita Hayden charged with seconddegree murder
A 27-year- old woman is charged with seconddegree murder after police say she allowed her 7-week- old son to starve to death two months ago in Warren.
Shantavia Carolyn-Lolita Hayden appeared for a hearing Thursday in 37th District Court in Warren, where Judge John Chmura denied a request by her attorney, Randy Rodnick, to lower her $1 million to a “reasonable” amount so she could possibly post it and be released.
“That’s like having no bond,” he said of the $1 million figure. “It’s not something within reason.”
He noted she is close to her family and would stay with her sister and mother in Detroit. Her other children are being cared for by family.
Chmura agreed with A ssi s tant Macomb County Prosecutor Collen Worden, who said her office was “vehemently opposed” to her release though Hayden has other children.
“Obviously she’s a danger to society. She should not be allowed to be other people, including children,” Worden told the judge in the remote video hearing held over Zoom. “She’s clearly a flight risk, with the seriousness of the charges and sort of being a transient person.”
Hayden lives in Detroit but was staying with her sister at Warren Manor Apartments off Dequindre Road north of Eight Mile Road, according to a report compiled by Warren police Lt. Dave Kriss. To give her sister a break, Hayden and her children went to the Red Roof Inn to stay for the weekend of Oct. 10-11, Kriss said. At 5:26 a.m. Oct. 11, Hayden brought her child, Amira, to Children’s Hospital in Detroit The child was pronounced dead 13 minutes later, he said.
She was arrested Oct. 23.
A preliminary report by the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office indicates the child died by starvation, Worden said. An autopsy report has not yet been received, she said.
In denying a bond, Chmura
Hayden faces a
“The defendant’s risk of flight I think is something that has got be considered because the defendant is charged with an offense that is punishable by up to life in prison,” the judge said.
Hayden spoke up and denied she is a flight risk, saying she has “strong family support” and had a job before her arrest.
“I want to be home with my children and my family,” she said.
She also mentioned that her doctor was “supposed to write a letter about what I was saying was true about my baby going to the doctor.”
She did not elaborate. Rodnick also sought release due to a COVID-19 outbreak at the county jail, where she is held. He said she risks contracting the coronavirus and getting sick and perhaps even dying.
One-quarter of the jail’s 550 inmates nearly two weeks ago had contracted COVID-19.
But Worden noted that percentage has decreased and “a lot of different steps have been taken” by jail operators to reduce the number of sick inmates.
Chmura said being freed from jail may be more dangerous than staying behind bars.
“There’s perhaps a greater chance of her contracting it outside of court (sic),” he said. “It seems to be out of control now. I’m not sure she actually would be safer outside of the jail than she is incarcerated. They’re taking a number of precautions at the jail from keep her from getting that virus. Who know what she would be exposed to outside of the jail?”
Hayden said she has not been tested since she was first tested upon arrival.
Hayden is also charged with the lesser offenses of manslaughter and seconddegree child abuse.
The case is scheduled for a Jan. 7 probable-cause conference. lower noted life offense.