Geneva woman draws jail term for daughter's death

Geneva woman draws jail term for daughter's death

20 Jan 1994

By Gina M. Masullo

Staff Writer CANANDAIGUA

A Geneva mother was sentenced Wednesday to one and one-half to four years in state prison for causing her child's death.

Lisa Hawkins-Rusch was sentenced in Ontario County Court on a conviction for criminally negligent homicide in the September 1992 death of her 13-month-old adopted daughter.

Meghan Hawkins-Rusch and her husband adopted the child from an orphanage in China several months before the child died of head trauma.

Two months after the baby the mother was charged in her death.

A jury found Hawkins-Rusch guilty after deliberating for nearly two days at a November trial.

The five-woman jury cleared Hawkins-Rusch of the more serious charges against two counts of two counts of second-degree murder two counts of first-degree manslaughter.

[This is an excerpt of the orginal article]