By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Jennifer Edwards wipes away the tears yesterday after a jury
found her guilty of reckless manslaughter in the 1997 death
of her 20-month-old daughter, Cedra.
Edwards facing
8 to 20 years in
death of daughter
A jury yesterday found the
By Lori Tighe
20-year-old mother guilty
of reckless manslaughter
Star-BulletinJennifer Edwards quietly wiped away tears yesterday after a jury found her guilty of reckless manslaughter. She wanted better but felt pleased it wasn't worse, said her attorney.
Edwards, 20, faces an eight- to 20-year sentence for the death of her 20-month-old daughter, Cedra, who died Dec. 17, 1997, of a massive body infection from a ruptured intestine after she was stomped, kicked and beaten. Edwards would have faced 35 to 50 years for a murder conviction.
"I'm relieved the jury came back with less than murder," said deputy public defender Ed Harada. "I can accept the verdict as a fair verdict."
By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Jennifer Edwards, shown here with court officers,
faces 8 to 20 years in prison.
Although jurors spent a day of the two-day deliberation discussing a murder conviction, they had a reasonable doubt as to whether Edwards or her boyfriend, Mika Mika Jr., dealt baby Cedra the fatal blows to her stomach, said jury foreman Kyle Soller, 28.But they didn't doubt that Edwards should have taken her daughter to the hospital sooner for medical treatment, he said.
"Just because she's young doesn't mean she's incapable of nurturing," Soller said. "The trial was very draining. I left here wiped out every night."
As the jury weighed Edwards' and Mika's credibility, they looked especially to the testimony of impartial witnesses "who had nothing to gain," Soller said.
The most credible one was Michael Gies, the nurse at Kaiser Hospital who took baby Cedra, already dead, from Edwards' arms after she arrived at the hospital, Soller said.
"He saw Mika was very upset, while Jennifer Edwards was reading, chatting and laughing on the phone," as doctors evaluated Cedra, said Deputy Prosecutor Lucianne Khalaf. "It really incensed him."
The prosecutor said any jury has a hard time pinning murder's definition of "knowingly and intentionally causing harm" on a parent suspected of killing their child, because it's so hard to believe a parent could be capable of it.
"The biggest obstacle we have is proving a knowing or intentional state of mind," Khalaf said. "I was hopeful the jury would piece together the evidence and determine it was murder, but their verdict is very commendable."
Edwards may be eligible for youthful offender treatment, which would reduce her sentence, Harada said. To qualify, a convicted felon must be under age 22 with no prior felony convictions, and the judge must feel it's appropriate. Under the youthful offender treatment, a manslaughter sentence carries an eight-year maximum term.
Both the prosecution and defense had high praise for Circuit Judge John Lim's handling of the case and the final instructions for the jury.
Lim gave correct instructions to the jury for the attempted murder trial of Kimberly Pada, charged with trying to kill her son, Reubyne Buentipo Jr. In that trial, the jury wasn't told that its decision on Pada's mental and emotional state could reduce her conviction to manslaughter.
In the Edwards case, the jury was clearly told about the manslaughter possibilities. "I wanted the jury to know they would be considering manslaughter," Harada said. "I didn't want that to be a factor in this case. It was a tactical move on my part in light of the bad publicity on the Pada case."
Edwards is currently staying in the women's unit at Oahu Community Correction Center. She'll be sentenced July 27.
The conviction of Jennifer Edwards brings to a close the fourth recent case in which mothers were charged in the death or abuse of their children. Here's a look at the other cases: Isle courts tried four
recent cases of violence by moms
Tufono Fale, 23, of Wheeler Army Air Field. Convicted of manslaughter for kicking to death her youngest child, Logise, 2. In October, Fale was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Fale kicked or stomped the child several times after finding Logise strewing folded laundry around a bedroom. The blows would have caused the child excruciating pain for the eight hours before her mother called 911, experts said.
