Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 8, 1991 TAG: 9103080620
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Chief Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Betty Jo Anthony made that disclosure in a bond hearing Thursday for Carolyn Ann Smallwood Snyder.
Snyder, a 19-year-old drifter, is charged with felony child neglect of the infant nicknamed Baby Isaiah, who died five days after he was left in a dumpster last December.
Public Defender Ray Leven asked for the bond hearing after obtaining medical records showing that Snyder's Fallopian tubes were removed in a 1988 operation, casting doubt on allegations that she is the child's mother.
"There's evidence that she possibly could not have conceived the child," Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge Joseph Clarke said in reducing Snyder's bond from $50,000 to $10,000.
Snyder was released from the Roanoke City Jail Thursday night, after being held for 16 days based on a confession she now disavows.
But Anthony said it is still possible that Snyder could be the mother - a question she said must be answered by DNA testing.
In the meantime, Anthony argued, there is evidence Snyder was involved in some way, either as the mother or perhaps as someone who assisted in leaving the newborn boy in a dumpster off Mountain Avenue Southwest the morning of Dec. 19.
"She has shown, as part of her confession, that she had knowledge of this crime," Anthony said. "Our position is that she's involved, whether as the mother or an accomplice."
In two confessions, Snyder told police details about items in the dumpster found with the baby. Snyder was able to describe a purse in more detail than was included in news reports, and she was able to tell police what article of clothing the infant was wrapped in, Anthony said.
Those descriptions - plus other details that prosecutors have not yet revealed in court - would be known only to someone directly involved in the crime, Anthony said.
However, Leven contends that Snyder's statements on those issues were "definitely in conflict" and "subject to interpretation."
Leven said it is unfair for prosecutors to charge Snyder with child neglect while alleging that she could be either the mother or an accomplice. "If they don't have a specific charge they can bring, then the warrant may be premature," he said. "They're saying she might not be the mother, but hold her anyway. And that's just unfair."
If DNA tests show Snyder to be the mother, she could face a charge of murder, Anthony said. If not, the child neglect charge could still stand based on the accomplice theory, she said.
Authorities chose to charge Snyder with child neglect but not with murder only because they realized further investigation was needed, she said.
In arguing that Snyder should be released on a property bond to be covered by a relative's home, Leven raised questions about the strength of the prosecution's case.
He called as a witness Dr. James Zimmerman, who testified that in August 1990, he operated on Snyder to remove a cyst. Snyder, who would have been five months pregnant based on the prosecution's theory, did not appear pregnant, Zimmerman testified.
But on cross-examination, he said he could not rule out the possibility that she was pregnant at the time.
Still, Leven and Assistant Public Defender Steve Milani point to a discharge summary from that operation, which states that an abdominal examination of Snyder showed no signs of pregnancy.
"Clearly she wasn't pregnant," Leven said.
Despite Zimmerman's records and paperwork that shows Snyder's Fallopian tubes were removed in an operation called a bilateral salpingectomy, prosecutors were reluctant to have her released on bond. Fallopian tubes connect the ovaries to the uterus.
Snyder, who has a record of prostitution convictions and a reputation as a homeless drifter, might not stick around for her trial if released on bond, Anthony said.
Even if DNA tests show that Snyder is not the mother, Anthony argued, she still would be guilty of a crime: making a false report to police with her fabricated confession.
And if it is true that Snyder made up her story as a way to get back to Roanoke from where she was stranded in Louisville, Ky., Anthony said, then she defrauded the taxpayers of Virginia for free air fare.
"This woman has committed a crime, even though we might not be able to name it," Anthony said. "She's not totally innocent, whatever way you look at it."
by CNB