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Tampa woman to stand trial in baby's death
By COLLEEN JENKINS
Published June 26, 2007
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[Times photo: Ken Helle]
Doe told police that she was drunk and high on cocaine when she gave birth in a West Tampa alley in May 2006.
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[Handout photo]
Mary Louise Doe holds her young son Benjamin Reynolds. The family photograph shows the young mother and son before Doe got hooked on crack cocaine and started living life on the streets.
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TAMPA - After a year of mental health treatment, two doctors have found Mary Louise Doe competent to stand trial on the charge that she gave birth to a girl in an alley and left her to die. During a hearing Monday, Circuit Judge Manuel Lopez certified Doe's competency and set her next hearing for August. Doe, now 42, was sent to the Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee after experts determined last June that she was incapable to assist her attorneys during a trial. Doe told police that she was drunk and high on cocaine when she gave birth in a West Tampa alley in May 2006. She said she walked away. Police found the baby's body a few days later. The baby was Doe's sixth. She had her first at age 16. She did not raise any of them, instead living a life of drugs and crime on the streets. Doe faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison if convicted of aggravated manslaughter of a child. Colleen Jenkins can be reached at 813 226-3337 or cjenkins@sptimes.com.
[Last modified June 25, 2007, 21:41:44]
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by chris
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03/03/08 10:08 AM
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this is one of the few cases i agree dcf should have been involved, but they were probably losing children
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by TANYA
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06/26/07 03:01 PM
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I AGREE, SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN STERILIZED WITHIN 24 HRS OF HAVING BEEN FOUND UNFIT. SHE SHOULD BE PUT TO DEATH FOR HER ACTIONS AND BE DONE WITH HER ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!
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by MissyB
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06/26/07 12:38 PM
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Since this woman never raised any of her other children, why wasn't DCF involved? Once it was know that she was pregnant..the system should have had a plan already in place. Since she is hooked on crack cocaine,she is in need of drug treatmnet also.
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by Sheniqua
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06/26/07 11:15 AM
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Poor lady, the government didn't do anything to help her.
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by tj
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06/26/07 10:02 AM
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The courts should have mandated sterilization after her first child and first arrest. These people should not have the right to reproduce. Now we have to pay for her 30 year incarceration plus who knows how much school resources for her "damaged"kids
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by Kay
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06/26/07 09:14 AM
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I agree with both of the other comments. She was mentally incapable of being responsible and it appears she never has been. Family planning assistance is difficult to find and would be nearly impossible in her state of mind. Society failed her.
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by Linda
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06/26/07 08:59 AM
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Yes, we failed. Wasn't this baby supposed to be adopted by a young lady in southern Georgia? We can raise money to assist children from other countries. But why can we not raise awareness of what is happening to children in the USA???
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by Bremda
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06/26/07 08:22 AM
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If this woman had 6 children and did not raise any of them, then we the people of the United States are partially responsible for the death of this child.....we should have taken away her ability to reproduce.
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by Taraerin
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06/26/07 07:46 AM
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Number one, she messed up with drugs and crime. Where were her parents? Number two, she needs to practice birth control. I know that is a hard one in this country since this government cuts funding for family planning but just wants people to say no.
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Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
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