Foster Mother Gets Year for Scalding Boy

Tulsa World

Author: Patti Weaver; World Correspondent

STILLWATER -- A Cushing woman convicted of abusing her 4-year-old foster child -- whose skin was scalded off his feet and lower legs -- was given a one-year prison sentence Monday.

Anita June Franklin, 43, asked for probation or house arrest Monday in a letter to Associate District Judge Robert Murphy Jr., in which she called the incident ``this terrible tragedy.'' Murphy put her letter in the court file.

The penalty Murphy imposed was that set in September by a Payne County jury. Franklin could have received up to life in prison. Murphy allowed her to remain free on $5,000 bond until Jan. 6 -- when she is to report to the county jail.

Prosecutor Beth Pauchnik called the abuse ``an especially heinous crime because it was done against a helpless child ... who suffered pain for months and months.''

The victim, Justin Fields, now 5, required 18 months of medical treatment -- including skin grafts to both of his legs from the top of his feet to below his knees, Pauchnik said.

Dr. John Steumky, a child abuse expert, testified it was impossible for Justin to have burned himself.

``The child was held with his feet immersed in hot water,'' said Steumky, who wrote the curriculum on child abuse for the University of Oklahoma Medical School.

Justin testified ``Nita did it'' and also said she ``threw me around, made me hit concrete.''

Pauchnik said Justin was in foster care for four months with Franklin because his mother was in prison for passing bogus checks. He now lives with his father and two brothers in Oklahoma City, she said.

Franklin testifed that she had received five foster children through the state Department of Human Services since 1992. She denied abusing Justin in any way.

She said she left him alone in bath water and found him on his back, unconscious in the tub, on Feb. 2, 1993. She said she called a neighbor, who came to her house and called 911.

Character witnesses described Franklin as ``good with kids'' and ``an understanding, very patient mother.'' She formerly worked at First Methodist Church in Cushing as a custodian and relief day-care worker.