Isaac's foster mom defensive
Isaac's foster mom defensive
In ending testimony, she tries to protect daughter.(Charlsie Adams-Rogers)
June 15, 2007
Jack Kresnak
As Charlsie Adams-Rogers finished a grueling day defending herself in a Detroit courtroom Thursday, her attorney reminded her that she -- not her adolescent adopted daughter -- was on trial.
The former foster mother maintained that she had no idea the girl could be violent despite numerous reports from schools, a psychiatric hospital and a counseling center that her daughter was physically and verbally aggressive and had threatened to kill a schoolmate.
Though the girl has not been charged with a crime, authorities believe she may have been the person who beat 2-year-old Isaac Lethbridge to death in an upstairs bedroom of Adams-Rogers northwest Detroit home on Aug. 16, 2006.
"Are you trying to protect" the girl? defense attorney Warren Harris asked his client.
"Yes," she replied.
Adams-Rogers is charged with involuntary manslaughter and child abuse in Isaac's death and child abuse in the mistreatment of Isaac's 4-year-old sister.
Testifying before a Wayne County Circuit Court jury, Adams-Rogers teared up once while speaking about what happened to Isaac. But she cried at least three times while talking about her daughter, who was 12 at the time of Isaac's death and is now 13. A judge has terminated Adams-Rogers' parental rights to that child and another adopted daughter, now 2.
Under cross-examination by prosecutor Lisa Lindsey, Adams-Rogers acknowledged she had a legal duty to ensure the safety of her foster children.
"I didn't delegate my duty to anybody else," Adams-Rogers said. "I performed my duty."
The agency placed Isaac and his sister in Adams-Rogers' three-bedroom home on June 29, 2006, though she already was caring for three adopted daughters, including an 18-year-old, and a 15-year-old foster daughter.
Adams-Rogers said Isaac and his sister arrived filthy, covered in bruises and with only the soiled clothing they wore. She said she immediately bought pull-up diapers and clothing for the children although she did not document the bruises through photographs or by drawing what foster parents call a body chart.
Adams-Rogers admitted she hired a woman to help her care for the kids, but did not clear her through the agency.
She denied that her adult sons or grandsons lived in her home, despite testimony from two former foster children and a grandson's ex-girlfriend that an adult son lived in the basement. Lindsey produced copies of Adams-Rogers' federal tax returns for the last three years in which she claimed the adult son as a dependent living in her home for at least six months of the year.
From 2-4 p.m. on the day Isaac died, Adams-Rogers said, Isaac, his sister, the 12-year-old and her 1-year-old daughter were playing and watching television in an upstairs bedroom while she was downstairs. Adams-Rogers said at one point she went to the "top of the landing" and could see Isaac in the bedroom and he seemed fine. She admitted she never told police that before.
A short time later, she said, the 12-year-old came downstairs and told her Isaac was taking a nap.
Shortly after 4 p.m., Adams-Rogers' 18-year-old daughter screamed for her mother after finding Isaac unresponsive on a bed. He had numerous bruises, and chest burns, officials said.
That night, a homicide detective asked Adams-Rogers who might have killed Isaac. She mentioned her 12-year-old daughter first, then the 15-year-old foster daughter.
"You would agree with me that if you had supervised those children better that day, that Isaac would still be alive?" Lindsey asked.
"Yes," Adams-Rogers said.
Closing statements are scheduled for Monday.
Contact JACK KRESNAK at 313-223-4544 or jkresnak@freepress.com.