Brewer was serving a six-month sentence for theft and driving under suspension when she was released from Clark County Jail in May to have her baby. The child, Madison Bell, arrived nearly four months early and weighed one pound.
Brewer returned to court four days after the baby was born. She asked the court to continue suspending her jail sentence so she could be at her daughter’s side.
Moody denied the motion in a ruling after the judge spoke to Miami Valley physicians who said the health of Madison Bell — born nearly 16 weeks early — would not be affected by her mother’s absence. Brewer had also been found to have opiates and OxyContin in her system. She had also, Moody wrote, left a drug treatment program without authorization in November.
On June 5, Brewer’s attorneys filed another motion, asking the court to suspend Brewer’s sentence on the grounds that “the circumstances of her premature infant, Madison Brewer ... are so tenuous that death might come to her at any moment.”
A letter from another Miami Valley Hospital physician stated that though “Ms. Brewer’s constant presence is not required at this time... there is the possibility that Madison might deteriorate acutely.
“Unfortunately, I cannot predict if or when this might happen, but usually if a baby is going to die, we have the parents come to the bedside to hold the baby during his or her last moments of life to provide comfort for the child and the parents,” the physician wrote.
Madison died June 7 in her aunt’s arms, with the infant’s father nearby.
‘To protect the public’
Dawn Brewer has a history of drug use and encounters with the law, including charges of obstructing official business, domestic violence, forgery, receiving stolen property, assault, child endangering, failure to appear and charges related to a hit-and-run accident.
In an October 2008 theft case, Brewer stole a gun that she was going to sell for drugs, according to court records.
It was the theft charge and outstanding warrants for driving under suspension that landed Brewer in jail in March. She was pregnant at the time and was released in early May when a doctor recommended she have bed rest for the expected four months remaining in her pregnancy. She gave birth a week later, and was returned to jail while her baby was taken to Miami Valley Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.
When Moody received Brewer’s May 22 request for early release, she called physicians to check on the baby’s progress and was told Brewer couldn’t help and that given her history, the baby would only be fed formula.
“There was nothing (Brewer) could have done,” Moody said.
Moody did not write a response for Brewer’s second request for early release detailing Baby Madison’s “tenuous” circumstances.
“How would (the public) feel if on the way to the hospital, she had another accident and hurt and killed someone?” Moody asked. “Or the next time she was out instead of just stealing a gun, she used it?
“As a judge, I have to consider that,” Moody said Tuesday. “As a judge, my duties are twofold: to punish the offenders and to protect the public.”
‘I never got to hold her’
Brewer admits her drug problems and criminal history.
“I was a really bad addict,” she said. “I smoked crack cocaine but I got almost eight months clean.
“My baby didn’t die because of drugs,” Brewer added. “My baby died because the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck and no oxygen was getting to Madison’s brain.”
Brewer said the stress of being in jail contributed to complications in her pregnancy.
Brewer’s team of doctors didn’t return calls seeking comment for this article.
Brewer’s medical records note “a true knot” in the umbilical cord. Doctors delivered the baby via Cesarean section May 17.
“Everything started going downhill the day that I left,” Brewer said, speaking of her daughter’s condition. “I think that if I would have been there, she would have lived.”
Brewer said she was expressing breast milk for the baby after delivery, which she said wouldn’t have been allowed if she were on drugs. Her medical records note Brewer’s history of drug and alcohol abuse and include a list of her prescriptions she was on after the surgery, but do not appear to note the presence of illegal substances.
A letter to the court from a Miami Valley physician noted several conditions, including Madison’s low birth weight and a lung condition due to prematurity but does not list an addiction to any drugs.
“I never got to hold her, never got to hold my baby,” Brewer said. “I got to kiss her, the day of the funeral.”
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