Va. Beach foster mother pleads guilty in boy's death

By Kristin Davis

The Virginian-Pilot

© June 2, 2011

VIRGINIA BEACH

A former foster mother pleaded guilty Wednesday to voluntary manslaughter in the February 2010 death of a baby boy who had been placed in her care less than three months earlier.

Kathleen Ganiere, 29, could spend up to a decade in prison in what was described by a doctor as one of the worst shaken-baby cases the physician had seen, according to a prosecutor.

In Circuit Court on Wednesday, Ganiere stood between her lawyers and wept as she answered a series of a questions from Judge Patricia L. West. When asked whether she was entering the plea because she is in fact guilty, Ganiere quietly answered: "I am."

She agreed the prosecution would have presented the following evidence had the case gone to trial:

- Braxton Taylor was a healthy 6-month-old when he first went to live with Ganiere and her husband, Brian P. Kezer, in November 2009 - and even flourished in the first months, learning to sit up and crawl.

- Kezer, who had recently left the Navy, used his remaining vacation time to stay home with Braxton for seven weeks. Kezer started a new job that required him to travel and left for a business trip to San Diego on Jan. 31, 2010. When he returned five days later, Braxton could no longer sit up or focus his gaze and would shake for hours at a time.

- The boy stopped breathing the morning of Feb. 6, 2010, and died at a hospital the next day.

Braxton's brain had swollen and filled with blood as a result of being shaken. Authorities said Ganiere abused the child for more than a month - from the time her husband returned to work until the baby's death.

Ganiere initially planned to fight the charges. Her lawyer, Moody E. "Sonny" Stallings Jr., said evidence would show Braxton was already unwell when he first went to live with the couple. Kezer testified at a hearing shortly after the baby's death that Braxton suffered from seizures and his wife loved and cared for the infant.

Ganiere was set to stand trial Wednesday on charges of second-degree murder and felony child abuse, but prosecutors reduced the murder charge and withdrew the abuse charge in exchange for her guilty plea.

She agreed to report to jail on June 24 and will return to court Sept. 14 for sentencing.

She and her husband also face a $2.6 million lawsuit accusing them of shaking Braxton and allowing him to fall and hurt himself.

Kristin Davis, (757) 222-5131, kristin.davis@pilotonline.com