Grandma convicted in child’s drowning

By Carrie Petersen
Albany Democrat-Herald

Mary Lynne Meade-Morris was found guilty this morning in Linn County Circuit Court of criminally negligent homicide in the drowning death of her 15-month-old granddaughter.

Meade-Morris, 60, had been indicted on a charge of first-degree manslaughter, but Circuit Court Judge John McCormick found her guilty of the lesser charge.

In July 2006 Meade-Morris was living with her daughter and son-in-law, Sarah and Justin Carr, and their two daughters in Albany to help with child care.

She was babysitting on July 21, 2006, when her youngest granddaughter, Joelle Constance Carr, went out the back door and drowned in an above-ground pool. Meade-Morris saw the toddler in the water, pulled her out, called 911 and did CPR until medics arrived.

During closing arguments this morning, prosecutor Reed Dinsmore outlined the circumstances surrounding the drowning:

Meade-Morris had in the past been a substitute school teacher for elementary-age children and had taught swimming lessons for parents and small children. She was aware of Joelle’s ability to climb and her fondness for the outdoors. There was a lot of noise in the house with fans and two TVs on. Meade-Morris left the back door partially open and blocked it with a fan, but the door was easily opened further and Joelle could climb through the screen door.

Earlier that morning, Joelle had apparently followed her sister, then 5, out of the house and her sister put her in a playpen on the front porch, where the grandmother later found her. The older sister had gone to a neighbor’s house, but when police responded to the drowning and asked where she was, Meade-Morris wasn’t sure, Dinsmore said.

Meade-Morris spent a lot of time on her computer each day, and evidence showed that she had been on her computer, involved in online discussions, that morning, the prosecutor said.

Defense attorney Paul Kuebrich said that Joelle climbing into the backyard pool was not a “foreseeable event.” She had tried to climb the pool ladder the night before and was stopped by her parents but no one informed the grandmother of the incident.

He said the death was a horrible tragedy but not criminal.

Meade-Morris was also found guilty of second-degree child neglect for allowing Joelle to leave the house unattended the day prior to the drowning. A neighbor found Joelle, and it took a half an hour for her grandmother to notice she was missing.

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