Bond lowered for mother of 3-year-old Md. boy found dead on swing
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Version 0 of 1. A judge on Thursday lowered the bond for a Maryland mother who was found pushing her dead toddler on a swing in May. Public defenders for Romechia Simms, 24, argued that she should not be kept in the Charles County jail because she has close family ties and was receiving mental health treatment. Her attorneys also objected to keeping her in the jail, saying that two other inmates died in apparent suicides in the past year. Charles County Circuit Court Judge Hayward West lowered Simms’s bond from $150,000 to $60,000 but declined to release her, noting the seriousness of the manslaughter and child abuse charges against her. Simms’s public defender said her client was not receiving necessary medication for her mental health disorders at the jail, where she has been incarcerated for the past month. West said he would help Simms get the treatment she needs. Tiffany Campbell, an assistant state’s attorney for the county, said that Simms was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Simms said she received treatment shortly after the death of her son, 3-year-old Ji’Aire Donnell Lee, but was ignored by a jail guard when she started hearing voices early in her jail stint. Authorities say Simms pushed Ji’Aire on a swing in a La Plata park for 40 hours, including during rain and throughout the night. The medical examiner’s report found that the child died of hypothermia and dehydration while on the swing. “I didn’t even mean for this to happen,” the boy’s mother said at her arraignment. [Some haunted by park where Ji’Aire Donnell Lee died on a swing] Simms had been held on a $150,000 bond for three weeks while awaiting trial. She walked into the courtroom in a blue and white jumpsuit, her arms shackled and her long braids in a bun. She smiled at her mother as she walked in, later wiping tears from her cheeks as the judge described how her son was found dead in a swing. “Given the loss of my son . . . I’m trying to get myself together,” she later told the judge. Simms pleaded for a bond she could afford, saying she understood the seriousness of the charges. The judge replied, “You strike me in our conversations as a very nice person,” but he added that the allegations necessitated a higher bond. He offered to revisit the issue if Simms’s mother had stable housing to take her in. Defense attorney Allison Heldreth said that Simms was seeing a psychiatrist and attending therapy weekly and that she had a job at Starbucks before her arrest. Simms was living with her mother, Vontasha Simms, and son in a motel at the time of Ji’Aire’s death. Vontasha Simms says that her daughter suffers from bipolar disorder and depression, and she has criticized prosecutors for pursuing charges against her daughter in a case that has attracted national attention. On Thursday, as she waited for her daughter’s court appearance, she held a Bible and wore a shirt with an enlarged photo of herself and her grandson. Vontasha wanted the judge to send a message that jails aren’t the right place for people with mental illness, adding that her daughter wasn’t getting enough counseling and the proper medication. “She’s all alone,” said Vontasha Simms. “Taking her away from what was a somewhat productive type of life after this tragedy and pushing her into a place where she’s not getting any help — that’s not beneficial to her, that’s not beneficial to society, that’s not beneficial to anyone.” [Authorities: Boy was on swing nearly two days] Charles County State’s Attorney Anthony Covington has declined to say whether his office would consider Simms’s mental health in prosecuting her case. Weeks before Ji’Aire’s death, his father sought custody of him in D.C. Superior Court, raising concerns about his former partner’s mental stability. In his custody petition, James “Donnell” Lee told the court that he was worried about episodes of erratic behavior by Simms and her recent hospitalization. But Simms argued in court documents that she had recovered from her breakdown and was the more capable parent. Both parents attended the boy’s funeral in June. In the funeral program, Romechia Simms included a letter she had written to Ji’Aire: “Son, the joy you brought to my life is unexplainable. . . . I miss you so much, Ji’Aire, way more than I could possibly express through words. I am slowly accepting your passing. I want you to know that I have always been extremely proud of you, and I love you until the end of time. Ji’Aire Donnell Lee, you are amazing. Love always, Mommy.” |