Glenville woman charged in death of 2-month old pleads not guilty

(ABC 6 News) – A Glenville woman charged in the December 2021 death of her two-month-old son has entered a not guilty plea.

Jocelyn Leslie Pater, 25, is charged with second-degree manslaughter along with charges of child endangerment, causing or permitting a child to inject, inhale, be exposed to methamphetamines, and fifth-degree drug possession.

According to the complaint, on December 13, 2021, officers responded to a call of an infant not breathing and its nose bleeding. The child died four days later.

The medical examiner’s autopsy report said the infant died due to overlay while co-sleeping with an adult. On Dec. 14, an MRI showed diffuse anoxic brain injury and a follow-up CT scan on Dec. 16 also showed diffuse anoxic brain injury as well as injuries to the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia and midbrain.

Toxicology results were positive for methamphetamine but it is unclear if the presence of methamphetamine had any contribution to the cause of death.

Pater told police that she fell asleep on the couch with the child and was later awoken by her friend who was hysterical and who had pulled the child away, and took her to a neighbor’s residence and called 911. The woman also attempted mouth-to-mouth until police arrived. The child was later flown by Mayo One to Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

A search warrant discovered a digital scale, three needles in Pater’s bedroom, a meth pipe on the bed near a baby bottle, a bag of .08 grams of meth, a bottle nipple, and baby bottles containing liquid.

The bottles were obtained due to the bottle nipple being found near the suspected methamphetamine. The items were later sent to the BCA laboratory. The bottle nipple tested positive for methamphetamine.

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Detectives learned from hospital staff that the child presumptively tested positive for narcotics. A urine analysis of Pater tested positive for both amphetamine and methamphetamine.

A jury trial for Pater is scheduled for November.