MOTHER GETS PROBATION IN DEATH

MOTHER GETS PROBATION IN DEATH, JUDGE DECRIES 'HATEFUL WORDS' BY DETRACTORS

Author: MATT GRYTA - News Staff Reporter

Jessica Vitale-Elgie was placed on probation Friday on a misdemeanor child endangerment charge in the death of her 5-year-old adopted son, Casey.

State Supreme Court Justice Joseph S. Forma imposed the maximum three years of supervised probation and ordered Vitale-Elgie, 39, to perform 300 hours of community service.

At the same time, he complained about what he described as an "erroneous" campaign to brand her an unloving mother.

Forma denounced "unsupported allegations" that she mistreated Casey. He died in August 2000 in the family's Amherst home after sucking a spongeful of laundry detergent.

Vitale-Elgie tearfully talked about the "horrific nightmare" she and her three other children have endured.

Vitale-Elgie addressed Forma about the "hateful words and accounts" he had received from her estranged relatives and former friends. She said "the loss of my son" has left "very deep" wounds and emotional scars in her and her other children that "will last forever."

She said she has reconciled with her children and "vowed diligently to help my children heal" over the loss of Casey. She now volunteers in the school her children attend and also teaches a weekend Bible class.

Prosecutor Kenneth Forrest Case had complained about Vitale-Elgie's lack of remorse but acknowledged some of the accusatory letters sent to the judge about her were "factually inaccurate and driven by emotion."

Forma told the prosecutor, "It seems you have your tears (from Vitale-Elgie) now."

Prosecutors had urged the judge to jail Vitale-Elgie for a year after Forma acquitted her Oct. 9 of criminally negligent homicide, finding her guilty only of child endangerment. The judge reminded prosecutors they had offered her a six-month jail term two years ago in a felony plea deal.

During the sentencing proceeding, Donna Levin, Vitale-Elgie's estranged sister-in-law and a psychologist, tearfully accused the defendant of being an "unreasonable" parent who willingly looked on the detergent incident almost four years ago "as an opportunity to rid herself of this child."

Forma interrupted Levin.

"There is no evidence that she allowed the child to drink" the detergent, he said.

Forma said he was deluged with more correspondence about this case -- both for and against Vitale-Elgie -- than any of the violent felonies he has handled in the past three decades. He noted that he even got letters from schoolchildren in Vietnam who erroneously believed Vitale-Elgie poisoned her son.

The judge pointed to evidence that Vitale-Elgie, who demanded a nonjury trial, had sought professional help for Casey, who was undersize for his age, including treatment by an endocrinologist for his growth problems.

The judge said he found "her grief at the loss of C.J. (the boy's nickname) is real."

As he imposed the sentence, Forma told Vitale-Elgie, who is on a paid leave of absence from her Buffalo teaching job, that the case was "not negligent homicide."

"You didn't poison your son. There was not evidence of that," the judge told her. "Your culpability is that you didn't do enough" to get him immediate medical treatment after giving him water, which caused him to vomit, after the early-afternoon incident.

Forma conducted extensive pretrial hearings before ruling that unsupported rumors about Vitale-Elgie's alleged mistreatment of Casey would only improperly "poison" a jury.

Testifying under a defense subpoena during the brief trial, her estranged husband, William Elgie, 41, told the judge that Casey appeared physically fine to him when he returned home from work about 5:30 p.m., hours after the boy ingested the detergent and only hours before he died.

Elgie, a Roswell Park Cancer Institute computer expert, also testified that he had stopped his wife from making a 911 emergency call after Casey collapsed in their bathroom and then rushed him to Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital. He was not present for Friday's sentencing.

Vitale-Elgie, now a Kenmore resident, declined to comment as she left court with friends.

Her attorneys, Michael S. Taheri and Peter J. Todoro Jr., said she has been granted joint custody of her three surviving children, a 9-year-old daughter and two 4-year-old twin boys, and they are now living with her.

In acquitting Vitale-Elgie four months ago of the felony negligent homicide charge, Forma stressed the lack of physical evidence and testimony by her estranged husband.

Vitale-Elgie pleaded guilty in December 2002 to negligent homicide but withdrew the plea in March because a judge threatened her with a state prison term.

After Friday's sentencing, Levin said she was surprised Forma has ignored what she felt was compelling determinations of pediatric specialists at Women's and Children's Hospital, where Casey died.

But Levin told reporters she cannot accuse her estranged sister-in-law of "purposely" killing the little boy.

Levin, who flew to Vietnam to pick up Casey from an orphanage with her brother, said she is convinced Vitale-Elgie was intent on "just letting (Casey) go" when he became noticeably ill after the detergent incident.

William Elgie was never prosecuted over Casey's death, but both he and his estranged wife were ruled neglectful parents during Family Court proceedings.

e-mail: mgryta@buffnews.com