Mother Enters Plea In Battery, Neglect Charges
WARSAW — Madison McKenzie Jones, 19, 301 Ulrich Drive, Milford, plead guilty to charges of battery resulting in serious bodily injury and neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, this morning in Kosciusko County Circuit Court. Jones was charged Feb. 27 at which time her two-month old child suffered blunt force trauma.
The plea agreement entered this morning, was a plea of guilty to lesser but included charges, dropping the charges from level 3 felonies to level 5 felonies.
If the plea agreement is accepted, by Judge Michael Reed, the sentences would run consecutive, one after the other, with no more than a six-year executed sentence. The charges are suspendedable. As explained by Reed, he could sentence Jones to six years on each charge, for a total of 12 years, but any sentence over six would be suspended, or all of the sentence could be suspended.
Jones will be back in court at 11:45 a.m. Dec. 10, to hear if the judge accepts the plea agreement. If accepted immediate sentencing will follow.
Jones was arrested Feb. 27, after Milford Police and Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department responded to her home on Ulrich Drive, in regards to an injured infant. The call was received at 2:17 p.m.
Lutheran EMS Kosciusko immediately transported the child to Lutheran Hospital Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Fort Wayne, in serious condition. The child suffered injuries indicative to blunt force trauma. The child was released from Lutheran Hospital on March 1 and placed in the care of a licensed foster parent in another county.
According to court documents, when Milford Police arrived they observed a female holding a small child. The infant was limp, unresponsive, having trouble breathing and suffered a laceration/abrasion to the face above the left eye and below the right eye. Jones, who was also in the room, told police she threw the baby.
Speaking to the female, who had been holding the child, police were told Jones was in the kitchen doing dishes when the infant started to cry. Jones came over to feed the infant, then became enraged and threw the baby across the living room where he fell and hit his head on a barbell weight on the floor. The female went to the infant who was crying at first, then would go in and out of consciousness.
Two other individuals at the residence were also questioned by police and who provided the same information as the other female.