The trial for a Berlin woman facing a litany of charges, including felony child abuse, will continue as planned despite a request to postpone the proceedings.
Heather Ward
By Bethany Hooper, Associate Editor
The trial for a Berlin woman facing felony child abuse and other charges will continue as planned despite a request to postpone the proceedings.
During a motions hearing July 15, Worcester County Circuit Court Judge Brett Wilson denied the state’s motion to postpone the trial for Heather Ward, 40, a Berlin woman facing 10 felony counts of child abuse and 80 misdemeanor counts of second-degree assault related to a child abuse investigation at the Berlin Activities Depot.
While the Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office argued more time was needed to prepare for trial, Ward’s legal counsel said their client was seeking a speedy trial.
“We can try this case tomorrow,” Dennis Murphy, Ward’s attorney, said. “We can try this case today.”
Last November, the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office and Child Protective Services were notified that an eight-month-old had been admitted to Atlantic General Hospital with a broken tibia. The incident initiated an investigation into the local daycare, where the child attended.
The sheriff’s office alleges video footage of the infant classroom revealed that Ward had caused the child’s injuries and showed other concerning interactions with several other infants under her supervision. As a result of the investigation, a grand jury in March indicted Ward on 90 charges.
Back in court last week, Assistant State’s Attorney Pam Correa said the case posed a challenge as the alleged victims were nonverbal and immobile. She said the state needed time to work with a medical expert to argue that Ward’s alleged actions caused injury.
“It’s essentially nine cases wrapped up into one,” she said.
Murphy, however, argued that the state was “slow-walking” the case while his client sat in jail. He added that the state had time to prepare.
“There’s nothing about this case that’s even remotely complex,” he said.
After further discussion, Wilson denied a motion to postpone the trial, which will be held next month in circuit court.
“At some point, any investigation has to come to an end,” he said.
Wilson this week also reserved his ruling on the state’s motion to admit several videos as evidence of other crimes and wrongs under Rule 404(b). Correa said each of the videos, recorded in the months of October and November, involve the listed victims and demonstrated Wardbrts treatment of the children.
“These events are alleged to have occurred over a month and a half,” she said.
For his part, Murphy argued the videos, which were shown to the judge Monday, did not meet the standards of Rule 404(b) and did not rise to the level of “other crimes.” He said he was also concerned the videos would confuse any potential jury.
“Many of the videos don’t depict anything at all, objectionably, in terms of dealing with the children,” he said.
Wilson told both the prosecution and defense he would issue an order for each of the presented videos at a future date. He also told the state to submit all discovery by July 28.