Woman charged in scalding death of toddler

[Casshew]

A 27-year-old Orion Township woman who police said burned her boyfriend's 22-month-old daughter during a bath in scalding water was charged with second-degree murder Wednesday, three days after the baby's father reported the infant had stopped breathing.

Letitia Johnson was held without bond in the Oakland County Jail after her appearance in 52-3 District Court in Rochester Hills. Her preliminary examination was set for Jan. 4 before District Judge Julie Nicholson. If convicted, Johnson could be sentenced to up to life in prison.

Prosecutors said Wednesday they believe the woman intended to harm the baby, identified by police as Jasmine Phillips. The woman gave the child a bath Saturday night in scalding water, then diapered the child and put her to bed, even though the baby clearly was suffering, according to her statements to police.

The next morning, the baby's father, Johnson's 26-year-old boyfriend, Louie Phillips, found Jasmine unresponsive and called 911, according to Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard. Jasmine was taken to POH Medical Center in Pontiac and pronounced dead at 11 a.m. Sunday.

The Oakland County medical examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by dehydration from extensive third-degree burns.

The burns were so bad, Bouchard said, the child's skin was falling off.

Johnson has six children of her own, all under age 8, by four fathers, including Phillips, said Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Sara Pope-Starnes.

http://www.freep.com/news/locoak/baby23e_20041223.htm

[Jeana (DP)]

WTF????? I can't even imagine how much pain that baby must have been in!!!!!! :behindbar :behindbar :behindbar :behindbar :behindbar

The death penalty. Those are the only words that come to mind right now.

[amandab]

I wish MI was a death-penalty state; we certainly have our share of nutcases.

That poor sweet girl....her pain must have been unbearable.

Had I followed this case a little closer I could've given you guys more insight - that courthouse is all of 5 minutes from my house.

[cherub]

I hope she gets hers . How can anyone do that to an innocent child? Id put her on death row for it.

[TKSands]

UNBELIEVABLE. This lady doesn't deserve to breathe another breath. 6 kids of her own and can be so cruel. The poor mother of this baby was probably forced to allow visitation and this BI*** wanted to get some revenge. Sounds like both women had a baby by this man that were close in age. Probably some cheating and this was a chance for some revenge. Surely she will get LWOP. SURELY?????

[mainepotato]

I just hope she lost consciousness quickly and didn't have to suffer long.

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/122304/loc_20041223018.shtml

[Casshew]

Hi marinepotato... welcome to websleuths

[englishleigh]

This makes me sick. That poor, sweet little baby girl. :banghead:

This woman deserves the death penalty. I can't believe they are calling this second-degree murder...it was clearly premeditated.

[poco]

I have absolutely NO TIME for people like that!!!

Someone should give her a scalding hot bath... boy does that PI** me off!

[lilpony]

I have absolutely NO TIME for people like that!!!

Someone should give her a scalding hot bath... boy does that PI** me off!
This is what I was going to say....That poor little baby. So sad, I just cannot understand how people can be so heartless and evil. My husband was burned badly in a fire, so I know all to well, the pain this child went through. Heartbreaking!!!!

[Rachael]

That is so horrible. Poor poor baby. If only they could do the same thing to the woman as her punishment.

[mainepotato]

Inmate: Scalding was no accident


Web-posted Feb 11, 2005

Prisoner testifies woman accused in slaying admitted in jail she intended to kill the child


By STEPHEN FRYE
Of The Daily Oakland Press


An Oakland County jail inmate testified Thursday that Letitia Johnson, accused of scalding to death her boyfriend's 21-month-old daughter, asked her for advice on looking remorseful.
"Her mother said she was smiling on TV," the inmate said. "I told her, 'I can't teach you how to be remorseful.'"

...


entire article at

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/021105/loc_20050211015.shtml

[golfmom]

Burns are the most agonizing injury.
OMG I can't believe that this woman did this to a child ...
This is outrageous ...
:furious:

[Jeana (DP)]

The defense attorney is inhuman in my opinion. Saying that anyone can accidentally put a baby in 148 degree water is lying through her teeth. Its unconscionable to me that she'd (the attorney) do this in order to protect this murderous beotch. :furious: :furious: :furious: :furious:

[golfmom]

Jeana,
This is another one for those mandatory tube-tying cases IMO ...
This woman has like 6 kids under the age of 8.
She's also been investigated for drugs in the home and putting beer in a baby bottle.

[golfmom]

http://www.freep.com/news/locoak/scald11e_20050211.htm

Johnson, 27, who is pregnant with her seventh child, is charged with first-degree murder.
....

Johnson initially told investigators she had scrubbed the tub with chemicals before giving the baby a bath, causing the burns, but an autopsy showed the injuries were consistent with scalding water.


Within days of her arrest, Johnson began talking to Tucker, who is in jail as a first-time offender, charged with being an accessory after an armed robbery. Soon, Tucker said, the two were writing notes back and forth about Jasmine's death. Tucker gave the notes to investigators.


"Did you just want to hurt her?" Tucker wrote, according to her testimony Thursday.


"Yes," she said Johnson wrote.


Later, Tucker said, Johnson wrote, "I just wanted to hurt her, not kill her... I was mad because he kept bringing her around."


Tucker said Johnson told her, "I didn't want to take care of anybody else's kid but ours."

[Jeana (DP)]

Jeana,
This is another one for those mandatory tube-tying cases IMO ...
This woman has like 6 kids under the age of 8.
She's also been investigated for drugs in the home and putting beer in a baby bottle.


And she's pregant. :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[lisad71]

And she's pregant. :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
Can you believe it? :furious: I had to go back and see if I was reading that correctly. At least if she spends her life rotting in jail, I'm hoping that her children get placed in safe, loving homes where the might stand a chance of having normal lives.

[ariel7]

http://www.freep.com/news/locoak/scald11e_20050211.htm

Johnson, 27, who is pregnant with her seventh child, is charged with first-degree murder.
....

Johnson initially told investigators she had scrubbed the tub with chemicals before giving the baby a bath, causing the burns, but an autopsy showed the injuries were consistent with scalding water.


Within days of her arrest, Johnson began talking to Tucker, who is in jail as a first-time offender, charged with being an accessory after an armed robbery. Soon, Tucker said, the two were writing notes back and forth about Jasmine's death. Tucker gave the notes to investigators.


"Did you just want to hurt her?" Tucker wrote, according to her testimony Thursday.


"Yes," she said Johnson wrote.


Later, Tucker said, Johnson wrote, "I just wanted to hurt her, not kill her... I was mad because he kept bringing her around."


Tucker said Johnson told her, "I didn't want to take care of anybody else's kid but ours."


One evil woman. Death penalty is what I think she ought to get.
Death by scalding is what I FEEL she ought to get. :mad:

[mainepotato]

Excerpt from http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0502/13/A01-88197.htm :

In one recent case, an Orion Township woman was charged with murder in the Dec. 20 scalding death of her boyfriend's 22-month old daughter, Jasmine Lawrence Phillips -- only eight days after an FIA case worker was at the couple's apartment investigating the suspected abuse of another child by the father.
Letitia Johnson, 27, who is pregnant and has six children, and Louie D. Phillips have been investigated by the FIA for at least six abuse and neglect complaints of children dating to 1998. Yet none of the incidents was apparently serious enough to warrant actions or removal of children. Investigators say she deliberately held Jasmine in 147-degree water because she resented the infant and the infant's mother interfering with her relationship with Louie Phillips.

"I didn't know they (FIA) had been out there just a few days earlier," said Jamila Lawrence, the baby's mother.

[mysteriew]

Excerpt from http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0502/13/A01-88197.htm :

[.[/i]


sounds like a major squabble is going on between the prosecutor's office and the children's protective agency. Unfortunately the kids will probably be caught in the middle of that

[LadyLuck]

this is so sad. Why oh why do these women have babies if they do not want them. Something needs to be done in this country. There are too many babies being killed.

[lisad71]

this is so sad. Why oh why do these women have babies if they do not want them. Something needs to be done in this country. There are too many babies being killed.
Amen to that! There are so many loving couples who are incapable of conceiving and lose hope when the adoption process is dragged out in some cases years. Yet women like this pop 'em out like rabbits.

[concernedperson]

Amen to that! There are so many loving couples who are incapable of conceiving and lose hope when the adoption process is dragged out in some cases years. Yet women like this pop 'em out like rabbits.

Not that they are fertile but they are killers. My daughter's friends who are infertile are seeking out children born in China, primarily girls, which are not held in high regard and often abandoned or murdered. Some loving people from the US are trying to make a difference. So many instances where the children could be adopted but our system is perverted or so it seems. Where do we go for this acknowledgement? Do we let dfacs control and fall by the wayside or do we allow people with the most human thoughts adopt? Or do we allow foster parenting where dollars control be the end all for the system. Most of the people in foster parenting are in the bottom 1/3 of income levels in the country and need the extra support. Not that I am bashing poor people because I am one of them. But the fact to parenting and what it entails is something that needs to be addressed. Education, good judgement, livelihood and compassion are the prerequisites.

[mysteriew]

A somber jury deliberated two hours before convicting an Orion Township woman of first-degree murder Friday for placing her boyfriend's toddler in a bathtub of scalding water, then letting her die of the injuries without getting her help.

Letitia Johnson, 28, rocked slightly as the verdict was read, but otherwise showed no emotion.

Johnson, mother of seven, took Jasmine Phillips, 21 months old, the night of Dec. 18 and placed her in a tub of steaming water and held her there as she screamed, according to the evidence in the three- day trial. She then slathered petroleum jelly on the child and placed her on a mattress. She died within hours of dehydration caused by the massive third degree burns that covered her body from the waist down.

http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm4868_20050701.htm

[mainepotato]

Thank goodness, this is one of the most chilling crimes I can imagine. I got goosebumps when I read that the girl was clutching at her, trying to get out, and that this monster held her down. The pain must have been horrendous! I can't imagine. What kind of evil beast could do this to a baby? Prison is way too good for her.

[mainepotato]

According to this article, her defense was that the scalding was an "accident committed by a harried and overworked woman." I'd like to "accidently" drop her in a vat of scalding water. Except that she'd die too fast.

Johnson gave the fellow inmate intimate details of the murder -- how Jasmine was screaming and clutching at her, trying to escape the scalding water.
http://www.freep.com/news/locoak/baby2e_20050702.htm


This one is from last week, but it has pics of the baby and the torturer.
http://www.freep.com/news/childrenfirst/babies27e_20050627.htm