Woman pleads not guilty due to insanity

WILL BUBLITZ

Ski-Hi News

A Grand Lake woman has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the death of a foster child last January.

Michelle Baber is accused in the Jan. 9 death of 3-year-old Daisai Derzon, a foster child in her care who died of head injuries.

Charged with felony child abuse resulting in death, Baber has been incarcerated at the Grand County Jail since her arrest a few days after the child died.

The insanity plea was entered on Baber’s behalf by public defender Trevor McFee.

District Court Judge Mary Hoak ordered Baber to undergo an evaluation by the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo. She also set Nov. 21 for the next hearing in the case.

After suffering what were termed closed-head injuries, Derzon, who was in Baber’s foster care at her Grand Lake home, was rushed by ambulance to the Granby Medical Center and later transported to Children’s Hospital in Aurora, where she died three days later.