Defense set in abuse-death trial

A forensic psychiatrist, after a court-ordered evaluation of the defendant, would testify that the woman is mentally ill and has limited intelligence, court records say

Mary E. Young

Reading Eagle

Aug. 17--A Reading woman charged with fatally abusing a 12-year-old Millmont girl plans to use mental illness as a defense, according to a Berks County Court document available Wednesday. Rose M. Boyd-Tolver, 40, of the 700 block of McKnight Street has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and related charges in the Sept. 4 death of Amira Brown. Judge James M. Bucci previously approved spending up to $1,500 for a mental-health evaluation by Dr. Larry A. Rotenberg, a forensic psychiatrist affiliated with Reading Hospital. According to the document, Rotenberg would testify Boyd-Tolver was unable to form the specific intent to kill anyone because she is mentally ill and has limited intelligence.

Intent is an element needed to prove first-degree murder.

If a jury finds that she could not form the intent, it could find her guilty of third-degree murder. A person convicted of firstdegree murder automatically receives a life sentence without the possibility of parole, but a person convicted of third-degree murder can be sentenced to a maximum of 40 years in state prison. A jury also could find Boyd-Tolver guilty but mentally ill. Under that scenario, she would receive the same sentence, but would be treated for mental illness.

Boyd-Tolver's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Craig S. Snyder, and District Attorney Mark C. Baldwin declined comment. By law, Baldwin has 10 days to notify Snyder of any expert witnesses he plans to call to counter Rotenberg's testimony. According to detectives:

Boyd-Tolver, who weighs about 260 pounds, struck Brown repeatedly with a mop handle, then sat on her in the girl's bedroom at 630 Summit Ave., where Brown was under the foster care of Barbara Martin. Boyd-Tolver was a friend of Martin's and was in the residence watching Brown. When Martin, who was not home, returned there, she found Brown, a seventh-grader at Southwest Middle School who weighed 130 pounds, unconscious beside the bed. Brown was dead on arrival in Reading Hospital. She died of cardiorespiratory collapse caused by a beating and physical restraint, according to an autopsy report.