By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
Defense attorneys for two individuals who are charged with murder in relation to the death of a child they are believed to have been babysitting said Monday in Barren Circuit Court they may want to try mediation in the case.
At a pretrial conference for Devin Pierce and Serenity Brown, Commonwealth’s Attorney John Gardner said he had provided notice that he intended to call a particular expert witness to testify at the trial, which is scheduled to begin in late April, and he believed it was under review by the defense’s own expert. Ken Garrett, defense attorney for Brown, acknowledged receipt of the notice and said he had a conference call set up with his expert this week.
“What we have spoken about in the hall is possibly mediating this case,” Garrett said, and he asked the judge to set another pretrial conference for about two weeks later. “At that time, I guess, we can get a mediation date. In the meantime, we’ll conference with the expert that we have to see where we are in regards to that report, because she does make some opinions that we may or may not need another expert for, but we’ve not yet made that decision.”
David Broderick, defense attorney for Pierce, said he agreed they may need another expert, adding that the statement the commonwealth provided with the notice was a supplemental expert to the medical examiner.
“It kind of changes the lay of the land,” he said.
Gardner said he understood that the defense wanted to check with their expert first before deciding whether to attempt mediation, which is where a third-party meets with the involved parties to work through whether a plea agreement can be reached.
Circuit Judge John T. Alexander said that if they decide they want to try mediation, they can let him know before the next pretrial conference, and he can begin the necessary steps to get a mediator – often retired Circuit Judge Phillip Patton – assigned.
He also noted that Gardner wouldn’t be available in two weeks because he’ll be at a prosecutors’ conference, so the parties agreed to a new pretrial conference March 4.
On March 27, 2021, Barren County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call from a residence along North Lucas Road regarding an unresponsive 19-month-old male. The child was transported to T.J. Samson Community Hospital and later pronounced deceased, according to a May 2022 press release from the BCSO, which went on to state that detectives saw “suspicious bruising on the head of the child,” so the body was sent to Louisville for an autopsy at the Office of the State Medical Examiner.
“The results of the autopsy determined the child died from blunt impact injuries of the head, and the manner of death was ruled homicide,” according to the press release.
On May 18, 2022, the case was presented to a Barren County grand jury, which returned an indictment against Pierce and Brown, each with one count of murder, and Marty Brown and Jessica Brown, each with one count of tampering with physical evidence. The sheriff’s office served indictment warrants on the four on May 27, 2022, according to the BCSO press release.
According to the indictment, Pierce and Brown “committed the crime of murder when, manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, he/she wantonly engaged in conduct which created a grave risk of death to T.D.S. and thereby caused the death of T.D.S.”
Nothing more on the child’s identity has been released.
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