Forensicwx
Final Roll Call 4153. STLCO 10-42 10/13 @ 1519
A Hamilton woman accused of hitting her teenage daughter with a liquor bottle, biting her and pouring motor oil on her during a fight that erupted while the woman was driving is now claiming self-defense and asked a judge to allow her to vacate a guilty plea and take her case to trial.
Bessie Laster, 43, admitted to the court she bit her 15-year-old daughter during a Dec. 1, 2013 scuffle that started in the family's vehicle and spilled into a gas station in Hamilton Township, but only so she could stymie the attack.
Painting her daughter as the aggressor, Laster disputed striking the girl with a liquor bottle or pouring motor oil on her, as prosecutors have alleged.
Assistant Prosecutor Katie Magee said Laster is also accused of pulling out handfuls of her daughter's hair, which was in a braid. The girl, who was treated for minor injuries, was not charged as a minor for her role in the altercation.
Judge Robert Billmeier was visibly irritated by Laster's request and raised his voice when she began talking over him.
He warned Laster, who was indicted for a single count of child endangerment and faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, he would not hesitate to sentence her to at least five years if she is convicted by a jury.
"Do you really want to go down that road?" Billmeier asked.
Laster had agreed last November to plead guilty to child endangerment in exchange for a deal with prosecutors that kept her out of jail and placed her on probation, Magee said.
But all that changed Thursday, when she asked for her guilty plea to be withdrawn, a request that was not supported by the woman's attorney, Tina Frost, who helped negotiate the deal."
http://www.dailylocal.com/ci_150109787