Baby example, not the child in the story. Photo via Pixabay.
Arraignment on murder and child endangerment charges was taken off calendar Monday for a young woman whose unrestrained infant daughter was killed in a crash in Palm Desert last May, but a $1 million warrant for her arrest remains in effect.
Kristen Leigh Lauer, 23, of Rancho Mirage, and Marcus Green, 52, are accused in the May 1, 2016, death of their 5-month-old daughter, Armani Green. The baby, who was not riding in a car seat, was ejected from a Porsche that struck a metal guardrail and crashed down an embankment about 200 feet off state Route 74.
The infant was thrown about 90 feet from the car and pronounced dead at the scene, and her parents were both seriously injured. Green, who was driving the car, has been in custody since last May on murder and child endangerment charges.
Lauer, who is out of custody and living at her father’s home, was charged May 4 with the same counts and had been scheduled for arraignment Monday afternoon.
Defense attorney John Dolan had sought last week to have the arrest warrant recalled and to delay his client’s arraignment for at least two weeks, until she could be reevaluated by doctors, saying she was “physically incapable” of making a court appearance.
There was no immediate word on why the arraignment was taken off calendar and no new date was immediately scheduled.
Deputy District Attorney Samantha Paixao last week had opposed a delay, saying that allowing the defendant to appear “when it’s convenient” would set an unfortunate precedent.
Dolan contended that ongoing medical problems stemming from the crash make it an “impossibility” for his client to come to court. Dolan said Lauer has been in a wheelchair since the crash, has undergone numerous surgeries for a variety of ailments and has several future surgeries planned.
“This is not for convenience,” he said last week. “This is physical impossibility without the risk of paralysis or death.”
In court papers filed last Wednesday, Dolan stated that Lauer requires round-the-clock care for various injuries, including a brain injury, broken bones, lung damage, herniated discs and spinal trauma.
“Ms. Lauer is barely able to walk and remains in severe pain,” Dolan wrote.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Dean Benjamini said last week that Dolan’s filings did not specify what danger his client risked by being transported to court, nor why an arraignment via video could not be arranged. The judge also questioned Dolan’s contention that Lauer would not receive sufficient medical care in jail, saying that such county facilities do exist within the jail system.
Paixao told the judge that Lauer has already been moved from several medical facilities both in the Coachella Valley and Sacramento, as well as to her father’s home. And while Dolan has stated that his client is not a flight risk, her documented transportation to several different locations implies otherwise, the prosecutor argued.
The attorney called the judge’s denial of his two-week arraignment delay request “the most heartless treatment of somebody in this condition I’ve ever seen.”
Benjamini took “umbrage” to Dolan’s remarks.
“This is not about whether it’s harsh or not harsh,” the judge said then. “Ms. Lauer has been charged with the murder of her 5-month-old child. She is looking at a life sentence. Although she has suffered in the accident, as well, nonetheless there are criminal proceedings afoot which are of the most serious nature that are possible.”
— City News Service
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