CHILD KILLER LOSES HER RIGHT TO RAISE SON

Author: Virginia Rybin, Staff Writer

The Minnesota Court of Appeals has terminated the legal rights of Janet Ostlund as parent of her 3-year-old son in view of her conviction for shaking her 2-year-old adopted daughter to death.

In a 2-1 decision to be filed today, the court said the conviction and the evidence that the child was abused in the months before her death showed that Ostlund is unfit to be a parent.

Ostlund's daughter, Maria, died on July 15, 1986, of severe brain injuries. Ostlund has maintained that the child fell and struck her head on a floor, but prosecutors charged that the injuries resulted from her mother's intentional shaking.

The boy, identified only by the initials M.D.O. in the court's opinion, was born in September 1986. The Appeals Court said he is now in his father's custody.

In January 1987, a jury convicted the Robbinsdale woman of second-degree murder. She was sentenced to eight years and nine months in prison.

The termination of parental rights ordered by the court means Ostlund has no visitation privileges or right to participate in the boy's upbringing.

"We are considering the parental rights of a mother who, during the time she was carrying this child, subjected her daughter Maria to a pattern of abuse culminating in her murder and who has not to this day admitted her culpability for that murder," Appeals Court Judge Edward Parker wrote for the majority. "This child's safety is paramount."

Parker said Ostlund's appeals of the conviction have been exhausted, so her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination is not a factor in her continued denial.

The denial prevents her from benefiting from therapy aimed at rehabilitating her so the boy would be reasonably safe, Parker said.

Judge Daniel Foley agreed with Parker in overturning a Hennepin County judge, who denied a termination motion brought by the county attorney's office.

Judge Roger Klaphake dissented. He noted that the Hennepin County juvenile judge found that Ostlund and the boy had established "a warm, bonded relationship" and that Ostlund exhibited good parenting skills during numerous supervised visits with him.

The lower court judge also found that Ostlund was taking advantage of therapy and counseling, including parenting classes, and benefiting from them, Klaphake noted. The Hennepin County judge, who was not identified in the appeals court decision, concluded that the county failed to establish that potential abuse would continue to be a problem.

Klaphake said a Minnesota appellate court had terminated parental rights only once before.