By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
Little new is happening with the cases of a pair of individuals who are charged with murder in relation to the 2021 death of a baby they are believed to have been babysitting as they await trial next year.
Serenity Brown, now 22, and Devin Pierce, now 25, had been scheduled to go to trial in April, but those dates were canceled after the defendants decided in February to try mediation to see whether a resolution could be reached and it was determined it couldn’t happen until the week before the trial would have started.
Commonwealth’s Attorney John Gardner informed Circuit Judge John T. Alexander at a pretrial conference in May that the mediation was not successful, so he and the defense attorneys had agreed a new trial date should be set. After a discussion at that time about how much time would be necessary for the trial, it was set for the four consecutive days available, March 18-21. Also at that pretrial conference, a new one was scheduled, and that took place Monday.
Gardner said Monday that all they really needed to do was set a new pretrial conference. He and the two defense attorneys, David Broderick for Pierce and Ken Garrett for Brown, had conferred prior to the proceeding, and Broderick said they had previously discussed Feb. 3 as a possible date. With no opposition voiced, that date was chosen.
Both defendants have been out on bond. Pierce wasn’t in court Monday, but Broderick said he had been working and was on his way. After the date was set, Broderick stepped away.
Garrett wanted to discuss a change in Brown’s bond, which had been set at $50,000 cash, and he requested that it be reduced to $10,000 cash.
Alexander noted there had been a surety provided.
Gardner said he had no objection because Brown has been showing up for her court proceedings and hadn’t had any bond violations, so he hadn’t had to request any bond revocations. Alexander agreed to the change and signed off on the paperwork.
Case background
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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