MARCHELLA PIERCE - 4 yo (2010) - Brooklyn/NYC NY

The police are investigating the death of a sickly 4-year-old girl in
Brooklyn whose body was found after her mother called 911 on Thursday
morning and reported the child was unresponsive. The girl, Marchella
Pierce, weighed only 15 pounds and had suffered severe health problems
since birth, the authorities said. Detectives were trying to determine whether the girl had been bound to a
bed after they found marks on her ankles that appeared consistent with
twine that was found tied to the head- and foot-boards of a small bed in
her mother’s bedroom, where the girl was found. The police said they did not know whether the girl’s weight was the
result of malnourishment or her health problems. She was born
prematurely and had been hospitalized for most of her life, her father,
Tyrone Pierce, who did not live with the family, said on Thursday. He
said he had never heard about his daughter being “in restraints.” The police said the girl had underdeveloped lungs and had a tube inserted in her trachea. An oxygen tank was in the bedroom. The family had been monitored by the city’s Administration for Children’s Services
after the mother had a third child, a boy, in November who was born
with drugs in his system, according to a person familiar with the case.
The Administration for Children’s Services said in a statement that
after the November birth, it hired a private nonprofit company in
January to work with the family. The girl was still in the hospital at
the time but was released the next month. A preliminary review of the case showed that the company, Child Development Support Corporation, visited the family “far less than the required two to three times per week,” the statement said. “We don’t yet know all the facts in this case, but we will get to the
bottom of it as quickly as possible, and we’ll take every appropriate
action as quickly as possible,” John B. Mattingly, the commissioner of
children’s services, said in the statement. Marcia Rowe-Riddick, the company’s executive director, expressed
surprise when told of the agency’s comments. She said the company worked
closely with the Administration for Children’s Services on the case
until June 30. At that time, she said, the company turned the Pierce
family’s case and all its other cases over to Children’s Services
because its contract had expired. She also said the contracts the company typically held with the agency
required four to five visits a month, not two to three a week. The Administration for Children’s Services “has not even called me,” she
said. She said an agency audit of her company’s cases in April or May
had been satisfactory. A spokeswoman for Children’s Services declined to
comment except to say, “We’re looking into this case in detail.” The police received a 911 call from the family’s apartment at 823
Madison Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant at 7:30 a.m. Officers found the
girl in the back bedroom, lying face-up and unconscious on her mother’s
bed. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The police said that the girl’s mother, Carlotta Pierce, told detectives
she had checked on her daughter at 6:30 a.m. and found her unresponsive
and with cold hands but said her chest was still warm. She reported
that she tried to revive the girl unsuccessfully and called 911 about 45
minutes later. The police are awaiting an autopsy to determine the
cause of death. The girl’s grandmother and her two brothers, ages 5 and 9 months, were
also in the apartment when the police arrived. The boys appeared
healthy, the police said. They have been placed in foster care while the investigation continues. Adele Small, 54, a next-door neighbor, said she knew the family well and
that the children “all seem happy, clean, and dressed nice.” Mr. Pierce said the girl weighed 1 pound 4 ounces when she was born. She
had been out of the hospital only since February, he said, and could
barely talk above a whisper. But despite her poor health, she “was funny
and playful,” he said. As for her mother, Mr. Pierce said “she was a great mom,” who had
desperately wanted her girl to come home from the hospital. Choking up
as he spoke, he said that he last saw her on Tuesday and that she
appeared fine as he kissed her good night.

A four-year-old girl who suffered from severe health problems since
birth and weighed about 15 pounds was found dead in her family's
Brooklyn apartment Thursday despite efforts by her mother to revive her,
authorities said.Police were investigating the circumstances
leading up to Marchella Pierce's death and questioned her mother and
father, who told detectives the child was born prematurely along with a
twin sister who died at birth. The Bedford-Stuyvesant couple told police
Marchella spent her entire life living in hospitals before being
released to their care in February.Marchella, who was born weighing 1 pound, 4 ounces, had undersized
lungs and required the assistance of a tracheotomy tube to breath, her
family and police said. At the time of her death, she appeared severely
malnourished and authorities were investigating whether it was related
to her condition, officials said. The girl's body was found in
her mother's bed, police said. A law-enforcement official with knowledge
of the case said Marchella's smaller bed nearby had four pieces of
twine attached to the head and foot rails, and marks on the girl's
ankles suggest the child may have been restrained at some point."The
detectives are interviewing the mother and awaiting the results of an
autopsy," said top police spokesman, Paul Browne. A spokeswoman for the
city medical examiner said an autopsy was scheduled for Friday.Police
said the child's mother, Carlotta Brett-Pierce, 30, checked on her at
about 6:30 a.m. and found she wasn't completely responsive and her hands
were cold. She then tried to revive Marchella without success and
called 911 at about 7:30 a.m. The emergency operator gave Ms.
Brett-Pierce instructions to continue CPR, police said. By the time
officers arrived, Marchella had died.Authorities also found an oxygen tank in the bedroom. The child's
grandmother and two siblings, a 5-year-old boy and a 9-month-old boy,
were also in the apartment. The law-enforcement official said the two
boys appeared to be in good health and were in police custody while Ms.
Brett-Pierce was being questioned.An official with knowledge of the case said the family has a history with the Administration for Children's Services. The
agency became involved when Marchella's younger brother was born in
November 2009, the official said. ACS brought in a "preventive" agency,
Child Development Support Corp., to work with the family in January of
this year but a review of the case shows that there were far fewer
visits to Marchella's home than the required two to three times per
week, the official said. ACS no longer works with the CDSC, the official
said.ACS commissioner, John Mattingly, said in a statement his
agency is "deeply saddened and troubled by this tragic loss of life, and
we have begun conducting a full investigation." The statement
continued: "We don't yet know all the facts in this case, but we will
get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible, and we'll take every
appropriate action as quickly as possible." Officials with CDSC, a
not-for-profit group that specializes in child-care services for needy
families, couldn't be immediately reached for comment.Marchella's
father, Tyrone Pierce, 30, said he doesn't live with the family but
remains married to Ms. Brett-Pierce and often sees his children. He
described his wife as a "great mother" and said Marchella "was
beautiful, smart, very playful" despite her ailments.Mr. Pierce
said his daughter struggled with eating solid food after she was
released from her long hospital stay where she was fed through a feeding
tube. "Her weight was always up and down," he said. Mr. Pierce
said he and his wife were required to take classes in CPR and how to
maintain the tracheotomy tube before Marchella was released to their
custody. He said Ms. Brett-Pierce was conscientious about the girl's
health."Ever since [Marchella] was in the hospital, [her mother]
always wanted her home," he said. "She's a great mother." He said he had
never seen the girl tied down to the bed and was surprised by the
suggestion.Mr. Pierce was questioned by police and spoke as he
left the 81st Precinct. He said he was aware of an ACS matter involving
his family, but that he didn't know the details, except that he
understood the case was closed. He became tearful when he
recalled the last time he saw Marchella on Tuesday. "She was in her bed,
going to sleep and I gave her a kiss," he said.
Jose Rosado, 44, a neighbor, said he had never seen Marchella but often
saw Ms. Brett-Pierce with her older boy and infant son. "I always see
the boy running around," Mr. Rosado said. "He looks good—well dressed
and well maintained."

Two days after the bruised, emaciated body of a 4-year-old girl was
discovered in a Brooklyn apartment, new information from officials
emerged about her life and death as her mother on Saturday made her
first appearance in court to face criminal charges. In a criminal complaint, prosecutors outlined a fearsome litany of abuse
that they said the girl, Marchella Pierce, suffered in her final days
at the hands of her mother, Carlotta Brett-Pierce, 30. The girl, who had
been plagued by severe health problems since her birth on April 30,
2006, weighed 18 pounds when she died, according to the complaint. Ms. Brett-Pierce repeatedly struck the girl with a belt and a video box
at their home on Madison Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, the complaint
said, citing a witness account. The mother lashed the girl to a bed with
twine and forced her “to take blue sleeping pills,” the complaint
added. The girl’s body was emaciated and covered with bruises on her head,
torso and limbs, and “ligature marks” were found on her feet, apparently
from where her mother affixed them to the bed’s footboard with twine,
the complaint said. In interviews with detectives, Ms. Brett-Pierce admitted tying the girl
down on Wednesday, “because the child was wild,” Tracey Downing, an
assistant district attorney, said at Ms. Brett-Pierce’s arraignment in
Brooklyn Criminal Court. “The mother said she tied the child because the child got up at night
and ate from the refrigerator and made a mess,” Ms. Downing said. The abuse took place when, in the opinion of a physician for the medical
examiner’s office, the girl’s state of malnutrition “put her at a grave
risk of death,” the complaint said. In an arraignment that lasted about 10 minutes, Ms. Brett-Pierce stood
silently, dressed in a hooded white sweat shirt, blue jeans and white
sneakers. She clasped her hands behind her back. At one point, she
smiled and waved to her mother, Loretta, and to her brother, Brian
Colas, who sat together in the courtroom. Her mother waved back. The case is still under investigation by law enforcement and medical authorities, as well as by the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, which had been monitoring the family since at least November, officials said. Ms. Brett-Pierce’s lawyer, George Sheinberg, pointed out that his client
had not been charged with homicide and said she should be released on
her own recognizance. But Judge Leonard P. Rienzi ordered Ms.
Brett-Pierce held on $300,000 bail, which appeared to visibly distress
her relatives. “My sister loved her kids,” Mr. Colas, 23, said outside of court after
the hearing. He said the proceeding was the first time he had ever heard
allegations that his sister had restrained or beaten her child. “The media’s trying to make her into an animal,” added Mr. Colas, who
the prosecutor said lives in the apartment with Ms. Brett-Pierce. After the arraignment, Mr. Sheinberg said, “There is nothing to defend
until I get the preliminary reports and autopsy reports.” He added: “The
complaint can say many things, but until we have evidence of what
happened, if anything happened, I have nothing before me. We don’t even
have a medical examiner’s report; we don’t have hospital reports.” A spokeswoman for the child welfare agency said workers were still examining records for information on the case. An autopsy conducted Friday was inconclusive, and Ellen S. Borakove,
spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office, said Saturday that
further studies, including forensic testing, investigations and an
analysis of medical records, could take a week or more. The girl’s plight became public after her mother dialed 911 on Thursday
morning, saying her daughter was unresponsive when she tried to wake
her. Ms. Brett-Pierce told investigators her daughter had fallen down
stairs, but the bruises on her body were inconsistent with a fall, Ms.
Downing said. Ms. Brett-Pierce was charged with second-degree assault, endangering the
welfare of a child, unlawful imprisonment and reckless endangerment,
according to the complaint. Mr. Sheinberg said a grand jury hearing
would probably take place on Thursday. The girl’s father, Tyrone Pierce, 30, who is separated from Ms.
Brett-Pierce, was present in court on Saturday but declined to comment.
The complaint said a broken video box “with what appeared to be blood on
it” was found at the family’s home. An official said a plastic
container used to hold a VCR cassette was found in the garbage at the
home.

Budget cuts that created pressure to close or shift oversight of child welfare cases may have led to last week's the death of a 4-year-old, malnourished Brooklyn girl. That's the concern of New York's Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, who on Friday announced a probe of the death of Marchella Pierce.
The cuts were eventually restored, but de Blasio says not before more than 2,000 cases were closed between April and July. He questions whether that was appropriate: "Were there families who still needed preventive services who lost them and lost them prematurely?"Marchella Pierce's case was never closed. The city ended a contract with the agency that was supposed to be monitoring her, citing poor performance. The case was transferred back to ACS still open. But it is unclear who was supposed to be monitoring the child that was sickly, fragile and in need of special medical care. Her mother is currently being held on assault charges. The medical examiner is still trying to determine the cause of the child's death. The city's child welfare agency is conducting it's own review and will release information in the next few days. de Blasio's office has requested information from the agency by September 24."We've got a find out how on earth this severe a case was missed because a child in this much danger, 4 years old, 18 pounds -- this should have been all over ACS' radar", says de Blasio.

A supervisor and a caseworker for New York City’s child welfare agency have been suspended without pay for failing to adequately oversee the case of a bruised and emaciated 4-year-old girl who was found dead in her mother’s apartment in Brooklyn this month, the agency said Friday. Admitting for the first time that there had been internal breakdowns in the case, the agency, the Administration for Children’s Services, said in a brief statement that there had been “lapses in frontline protective practice.” The suspended workers, who had been assigned to the agency’s Brooklyn field office, came under scrutiny after agency officials investigating the girl’s death found a lack of documentation to show that the workers had made the proper number of contacts with the family. The agency declined to provide any details about how often the workers had visited the family or what other services they had provided, except to say, in the statement, that they did not follow “standard policies and procedures.” It did not identify the workers, who were suspended last week. The disciplinary action came after the agency initially accused a private service provider of failing to make enough visits to the family, even though the city’s contract with the provider had ended months earlier and the agency had resumed responsibility for the case. The agency’s missteps in the case of the girl, Marchella Pierce, who died on Sept. 2, have echoes of past failures, even though the agency instituted a series of reforms after the 2006 death of Nixzmary Brown, 7. Marchella had been in the hospital most of her life and needed the help of a breathing tube when she returned home in February. She weighed 18 pounds, less than many 1-year-olds, when the police found her dead inside her family’s apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Prosecutors have charged the girl’s mother with second-degree assault, endangering the welfare of a child, unlawful imprisonment and reckless endangerment. Ms. Brett-Pierce struck the girl with a belt and a video cassette case, according to prosecutors, and told investigators that she had tied her to a bed at night to keep her from taking food from the refrigerator and making a mess. Investigators are awaiting further tests by the medical examiner’s office to determine the cause of the girl’s death. The case has raised concerns among child protection advocates over the sharp decline in families’ receiving preventive services through the agency. The programs, usually assigned to outside contractors, provide counseling, drug treatment and other help to families in crisis, in an effort to keep children at home and out of the foster care system. Marchella and her family had been assigned to one such provider in January, more than a month after the girl’s mother had given birth to a son who was found to have drugs in his system. Immediately after the girl’s death, the city’s child welfare agency said the provider, Child Development Support Corporation, had made “far less” than the two to three weekly visits that were required, which the organization disputed. In fact, the corporation’s contract with the city had ended in June, and the agency had taken over the case rather than assign it to another provider. In a statement on Sept. 3, the agency said its workers “visited the family throughout the summer,” an assertion that now appears to be in doubt. The number of cases receiving preventive services has fallen nearly 20 percent in the last year, a drop of about 2,000 families and 5,000 children, according to agency figures. The agency said one reason the caseload had fallen was its provision of shorter, more-intensive programs. But the caseload also declined as a result of a contract renewal process that was plagued with problems this spring, as the agency was planning to reduce its preventive services caseload by 3,000 families, due, in part, to budget cuts. The City Council in June restored the financing for most of those slots, but not before many of the outside providers laid off workers or eliminated programs altogether. The agency said it had closely monitored the caseloads to ensure that families who needed services continued to get them, but several child advocacy groups across the city said otherwise. “This was a major screw-up,” said Michael Arsham, executive director of the Child Welfare Organizing Project, an advocacy group. “It was inevitable that families were going to get lost in the shuffle.” The city’s public advocate, Bill deBlasio, who has begun an inquiry in the case, called the drop in caseloads “startling.” “The suspension of these workers reinforces concerns about whether A.C.S.’s handling of cases and lack of resources have left thousands of children in jeopardy,” Mr. deBlasio said Friday. He added that the agency, responding to his inquiry, had promised to provide detailed information about the case next week. “I hope their response will shed a lot more light on what went wrong and how many more kids could be at risk,” he said.

Nearly a month after a 4-year-old girl who weighed just 18 pounds was found dead in her family’s Brooklyn apartment, New York City’s child welfare agency has yet to contact the nonprofit group it briefly contracted to monitor the girl’s case, a group official said Thursday. “I have left messages with them, I’d say, at least twice,” said the official, Marcia Rowe-Riddick, executive director of the group, Child Development Support Corporation. Officials with the agency, the Administration for Children’s Services, did not immediately respond to the claim Thursday night. Shortly after the death of the girl, Marchella Pierce, on Sept. 2, the agency said it had hired the group in January to provide counseling and other services to the girl’s family after her mother gave birth to a son with drugs in his system. The case was sensitive because Marchella, who was born with underdeveloped lungs, had been in the hospital most of her life. She was still there at the time Children’s Services opened a case file on the family and hired the nonprofit group to help it so that Marchella and her two brothers would not have to be placed in foster care. But Children’s Services took over the case at the end of June after the group’s contract with the city expired. Even so, right after the girl’s death, the agency criticized the group’s handling of the case, which Ms. Rowe-Riddick has defended. The city agency, which has suspended a case worker and supervisor contending they failed to properly monitor the case after it was turned over, directed more criticism at the nonprofit group on Thursday. In a letter to the public advocate, Bill deBlasio, who has opened his own inquiry into the agency’s handling of the case, John B. Mattingly, the Children Services commissioner, said the Child Development Support Corporation “never raised nor followed-up with concerns regarding there being three young children in the home, especially one with significant medical needs.” The agency has asked the state to help it review other cases the group turned over to the city when its contract expired. But Ms. Riddick Rowe said that even while her group had the contract, it shared responsibility of Marchella’s case with Children’s Services. Once the contract ended, she said, the group briefed Children’s Services completely on the case and recommended it continue to receive services. The girl’s mother has been charged with second-degree assault and endangering the welfare of the child after the girl’s body was found bruised and severely malnourished.

Mother Charged in Murder of 4-Year-Old Daughter
New indictment adds murder, manslaughter charges to those filed in October
Updated 11:45 AM EST, Tue, Nov 9, 2010

The mother of an emaciated and abused 4-year-old girl found dead in her home two months ago has been charged with murder in connection with the tot's demise, the district attorney's office said.

Carlotta Brett-Pierce, 30, was charged today with two counts of second-degree murder and one count each of first-degree manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child. Those charges are in addition to the second-degree assault and unlawful imprisonment charges revealed in an October indictment against her.

Authorities believe Brett-Pierce tied her daughter, Marchella, to her bed, battered her with household items, deprived her of food and water, and force-fed her over-the-counter medication, including Claritin and Diphenaydramine, a generic form of Benadryl, over a period of two months.

Marchella died Sept. 2 of child abuse syndrome, with acute drug poisoning, blunt impact injuries, malnutrition and dehydration, the indictment says.

Meanwhile, the city's child welfare agency and outside care providers responsible for monitoring Marchella's case are being criminally investigated, a prosecutor's spokesman said last month.

The girl's mother told police she found her 18-pound daughter's cold and unconscious body on Sept. 2 and tried to resuscitate her before calling 911. According to U.S. health statistics, the average weight of a four-year-old in this country is 35 pounds.

Marchella was born with underdeveloped lungs, had serious trouble breathing and had a breathing tube in her throat, authorities said. She had been hospitalized in the months before her death.

The Brooklyn hospital that released Marchella into her mother's custody also will be investigated, prosecutor's spokesman Jerry Schmetterer said.
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Mother-of-4-Year-Old-Girl-Found-Dead-in-Home-Charged-With-Murder-106964803.html

Two child welfare workers were charged in the death of a child under
their care - the first such prosecution in the city's history, officials
said Wednesday.Authorities said an Administration for Children's Services case worker failed to visit the Bedford-Stuyvesant home where 4-year-old Marchella Brett-Pierce was found dead in September.The worker, Damon Adams,
was also accused of falsifying records after the girl died weighing
just 18 pounds. Adams' direct supervisor, Chereece Bell, was charged for
not monitoring his work on the case.The ACS workers both
resigned a month after the girl's death. They each face criminally
negligent homicide charges and were expected to be arraigned late
Wednesday.The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office also announced Wednesday that the girl's grandmother, Loretta Brett,
has been indicted for second-degree manslaughter for sleeping in the
same room as the child "night after night as she lay tied in her bed
with no food."Brett never reported the suspected abuse. The girl's mother, Carlotta Brett-Pierce, is already facing a trial for murder.Police said Marchella was dehydrated, beaten, starved and forced to take adult medication.District Attorney Charles Hynes
vowed to probe whether the city agency followed its own
recommendations, implemented after the tragic and well-publicized death
or Nixzmary Brown in 2006."We're going to find at long last what they're doing at ACS so there are no more children fatalities," he said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/03/23/2011-03-23_new_york_child_welfare_workers_charged_in_death_of_4yearold_marchella_brettpierc.html#ixzz1HRUlVGB8

Mayor Bloomberg defends ACS head as two child welfare workers charged in death of 4-year-old girl

Thursday, March 24th 2011, 2:50 PM
Mayor Michael Bloomberg came out in support of
ACS Commissioner John Mattingly in the aftermath of the charges filed against two child welfare caseworkers.
Mayor Bloomberg came to the defense of embattled Administration for Children's Services Commissioner John Mattingly a day after two child welfare workers were indicted on homicide charges."I don't know if the charges are true but I have 100% confidence in John Mattingly," Bloomberg said Thursday."This
city is so lucky to have him. I don't know what you'd do if you lose
him," Bloomberg said. "Most jobs you can find somebody else. This guy is
world-renowned and has 100% of my confidence."Caseworker Damon
Adams and his supervisor, Chereece Bell, are facing charges of
criminally negligent homicide, official misconduct and endangering the
welfare of a child in the death of 4-year-old Marchella Brett-Pierce.Marchella
was found dead on Sept. 2 weighing just 18 pounds. Prosecutors say the
girl was beaten, starved and drugged over a four-month period.Her mother, Carlotta Brett-Pierce, was charged with second-degree murder. Marchella's grandmother was indicted Wednesday on manslaughter and other charges.Authorities say that Adams, 36, never visited Marchella's home despite glaring warning signs - and Bell, 34, failed to monitor Adams' work.Adams is also accused of fudging computer records days after Marchella died to show he checked in on her.The
Social Service Employees Union, which represents ACS workers, said
layoffs and program cuts have led to overburdened staffers.But Bloomberg disputed the claims, saying the average caseload for city workers - 10 - is below the national average - 15."It certainly was not a resource problem," Bloomberg said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/03/24/2011-03-24_mayor_bloomberg_defends_acs_head_as_two_child_welfare_workers_charged_in_death_o.html#ixzz1HfYsf8vq

B'klyn mom accused of starving daughter to death gets lashed by judge

A Brooklyn mother accused of killing her emaciated 4-year-old daughter told a judge on Wednesday she’s “starving” for a speedy start to her murder trial.

Instead Carlotta Brett-Pierce, 30, got a dressing down from the judge after the prosecution revealed Brett-Pierce violated a court order by sending letters to her surviving children, one of whom is a witness in the case.

Brett-Pierce told Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Patricia DiMango she sent the letters to her kids – ages 1 and 5 – to “tell them I love them.”

DiMango was unimpressed. "If you violate that order of protection from today forward I will deal with it more harshly than you can think,” DiMango said.

An indictment charges Brett-Pierce killed Marchella last September and lists the cause of death as "child abuse syndrome with acute drug poisoning, blunt impact injuries, malnutrition and dehydration."

Brett-Pierce, whined that she hadn’t seen her other children in the five months she’s been held without bail.

“I’m starving for this trial to start,” she said, asking DiMango to impanel a jury immediately. “I did not hurt my baby. I did not kill my baby.”

DiMango demurred, citing essential pre-trial proceedings, but agreed to move the case along quickly.

Meanwhile, prosecutors said that a video cassette box and spatters on the wall tested positive for Marchella’s blood, but samples from a belt and buckle used to beat the child have not been analyzed yet.

Brett-Pierce, who pleaded not guilty, faces up to 25-years-to-life on charges of murder, manslaughter and assault, among others.

She will face additional charges if the letters contain any threats against the child-witness, prosecutors said.

“I’m starving for this trial to start,” she said, asking DiMango to impanel a jury immediately.

Shades of Casey Anthony. How could she use this term to request a speedy trial considering the means she used to murder her child? Sick baby killing bitch.

twinkletoe wrote:“I’m starving for this trial to start,” she said, asking DiMango to impanel a jury immediately.

Shades of Casey Anthony. How could she use this term to request a speedy trial considering the means she used to murder her child? Sick baby killing bitch.

---Reminds me of ESOTD's, "I feel she's close to home" statement. You wouldn't believe how close!!!

A former ACS worker charged in the horrific starvation death of a
4-year-old Brooklyn girl is a victim to be pitied, too, his lawyer
claimed yesterday. Damon Adams -- hit with the first such
prosecution of a child-protective worker in city history -- is facing
"unjustifiable persecution," his lawyer, Anthony Grandenette, said in
court. Adams has been charged with criminally negligent
homicide along with an Administration for Children's Services colleague
in the death of Marchella Pierce. The little girl was allegedly
starved, force-fed cold-medication pills, bound and beaten to death by
her mother, Carlotta Brett-Pierce, in the family's Bedford-Stuyvesant
apartment last year.

Adams, 36, is accused of failing to make all of the mandated
biweekly visits to the home before the little girl's death Sept. 2 --
and then doctoring his reports afterward to make it appear as if he had.
The other charged former ACS worker, Chereece Bell, 34, allegedly failed to monitor Adams' work. Grandenette told the judge that he plans to try to have the charge
against Adams completely dismissed because it requires proof that Adams
failed to perceive a "substantial and unjustifiable risk" that
Brett-Pierce might kill her child. Given that ACS's
investigation into the mom was based only on the fact that she had
tested positive for marijuana when she gave birth to another child,
Adams wouldn't have had reason to suspect such "risk," the lawyer said. "A prosecution based upon such a proposition is preposterous,"
Grandenette said. "It's quite a leap to go from an allegation of
possible malfeasance to a criminal prosecution." Brett-Pierce
has been charged with the murder of her daughter. Her mother, Loretta
Brett, who slept in the same room where the emaciated Marchella -- who
weighed just 18 pounds -- was allegedly bound to the bars of her crib,
was charged with manslaughter. When the ACS workers were
charged last month, Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes said, "Baby Marchella
might be alive today had these ACS workers attended to her case with the
basic levels of care it deserved, or had her grandmother stepped in and
put a stop to the shocking abuse she is charged with facilitating." Grandenette yesterday noted that Hynes was convening a grand jury to
investigate "systemic failures" at ACS in the wake of the girl's death.
He told Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Patricia DiMango that he should
be allowed to see the minutes from that secret proceeding because the
information could clear his client. DiMango told him to put the request in writing and that she would consider it. Adams is scheduled back in court May 11.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/acs_guy_tot_death_pity_ploy_eLgqvhjr6wRiua9sn4sZkM#ixzz1KIg0QEUe