Plea hearing set today for Renee Bowman

By CAROL HARVAT

The Calvert County Circuit County has scheduled a plea hearing this morning for the Lusby woman accused of attempting to murder her adopted daughter after the little girl was found by a neighbor as she wandered the streets in a nightgown in the Chesapeake Ranch Estates last September.

Renee D. Bowman, 44, who is represented by public defender Dorothy Gardner Hodge, was charged with first- and second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault and child abuse charges due to the child's condition, court records state.

After originally charging Bowman with first-degree assault and child abuse charges, the grand jury added the attempted murder charges on Oct. 20. At a hearing last month, State's Attorney for Calvert County Laura Martin motioned the court for the introduction of other criminal evidence for the attempted murder charges, however, Judge Marjorie Clagett denied the motion.

On Sept. 26, 2008 before a neighbor found Bowman's then 7-year-old daughter, she had jumped from her home's second-floor window after being left home alone and locked in her room. The girl, who is now in the care of Calvert County Department of Social Services, was disheveled, covered with cuts and bruises and taken to the hospital for treatment, police stated in a report.

During the execution of a search warrant on Sept. 27, 2008, police discovered the frozen bodies of two young girls in a basement freezer, which were later identified as two adopted daughters of Bowman's, Jasmine and Minnet Bowman. All three of Bowman's daughters, for whom she collected state assistance, were adopted in Washington, D.C., records state.

Detectives determined that the two girls died while Bowman lived in Montgomery County, so Bowman was indicted in Montgomery County in June on murder and child abuse charges on her two deceased daughters, the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office reported at the time. The state Medical Examiner's Office in Baltimore determined last December that the two girls died of asphyxiation.

A status hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today and her jury trial is set for Nov. 9 at 9:30 a.m., according to judicial records.

Staff writer Melissa Brachfield contributed to this story.