By Julie Manganis
Staff writer
September 26, 2008 10:52 pm SALEM — A Salem Superior Court judge yesterday rejected claims that state child welfare investigators violated the rights of a Peabody woman charged with shaking her baby to death last fall. Jennifer Ward's attorney, Thomas Barrett, had argued that Department of Children and Families investigators had "overborne" Ward's will when, he contends, they asked questions of Ward even after she told the investigators that her father had hired a lawyer for her. But Judge David Lowy disagreed, finding that the 38-year-old Ward — who had been valedictorian of her class at Bishop Fenwick — was well aware of her rights and was perfectly capable of understanding what was happening in the hours after bringing her 9-month-old daughter to the hospital. The judge made his ruling after a 21âÑ2-hour hearing yesterday, during which new details about the case and about Ward's reaction to her daughter's condition were revealed. And in filing the motion, Barrett attached a complete and unredacted copy of the Department of Social Services report on the incident, which paints a portrait of a bright but immature and troubled woman who still relied on her parents to bring her groceries each week from Maine and who often left her infant with them even after regaining custody. Jocelyn Ward Anderson died of what prosecutors allege is a severe case of shaken baby syndrome. The lawyers also believe the baby was abused on prior occasions, something a forensic bone expert is now looking at. The baby, born to the middle-class Ward and a Lynn man named Robert Anderson, tested positive for cocaine at birth, but was sent home with the troubled couple, only to be removed four weeks later after both parents tested positive for illegal drugs. Anderson went to prison for violating his parole, and the baby was sent to live with Anderson's mother in Lynn. Jocelyn had recently been returned to Ward when, in the early morning hours of Nov. 19, 2007, Ward and a friend named Josef Ferrini brought the child to Lahey Clinic, which is near Ward's apartment on Keys Drive. When Shannon Ryan arrived at Children's Hospital later on the morning of Nov. 19, she was familiar with Ward, having investigated the March complaint that led to Jocelyn's removal from Ward's custody. But she had not come to any conclusions about who had shaken the baby, knowing that Ferrini had also been present, she testified. She and fellow investigator Linnea Cummings met a state police investigator, Lt. Dennis Marks, in the reception area and spoke briefly before meeting Ward in a conference room, Ryan said. As soon as Ward learned that Marks was a police officer, she said she would not speak while he was present, Ryan said. Marks left his business card and then left the room. Ward, whose baby lay dying in a nearby room, began talking about how well she had been doing in maintaining her sobriety since Ryan had last seen her, going on for a few minutes. "She stated she was excited about staying sober," Ryan testified. "She wanted to talk about her sobriety." Ward "said she was happy and excited for herself" about her ability to beat her drug problem, Ryan testified. When asked about Jocelyn, Ward said "she didn't know what happened," Ryan said. Just then, Ward's father, Robert, showed up and asked to speak privately with Ward. When she returned to the conference room, Ward "said they had retained an attorney and would no longer be speaking with me." DSS took legal custody of the baby and allowed only supervised visits, and during the next two days, prior to Jocelyn being taken off life support, Ward made what investigators described as small talk with them but did not offer details about the case. But at one point, when Ward complained to an investigator that she felt sick because she had missed methadone appointments, the investigator, Janine Brummer, recommended a local methadone clinic she could visit near the hospital. Barrett contended in his motion that none of what Ward said during the entire time she was at the hospital should be allowed as evidence at the trial because, in addition to having violated her rights, investigators had "overborne" her will. Prosecutor Kate MacDougall countered that Barrett's entire argument was based on speculation, saying there was "not one shred of evidence" that supported his claim of inhumane treatment. The DSS report was not directly addressed during yesterday's hearing, but it revealed that Ward did not know of her pregnancy until her fifth month, that she enlisted Ferrini to stay with her because she feared being alone after Anderson was imprisoned, that she "financially abused" her parents, who still did her grocery shopping, and that she began using drugs while attending Emmanuel College in Boston. It also revealed that Anderson's mother, Mary Johnson, who had cared for Jocelyn for several months, had feared that "something like this would take place."
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