Melanie Ann Smith, 25, was found not guilty on a third charge - child abuse - when the jury in Muskogee County District Court returned its verdict at about 9:30 p.m. Friday.
Smith, who is reported to live about four miles west of Gore in Muskogee County, was tried in Muskogee County District Court. Her husband and the stepfather of the now five-year-old boy is also charged in Muskogee County District Court.
The boy's aunt and cousin, Sharon Smith, 51, and her daughter, Brenna Smith, 31, both face child abuse charges in Sequoyah County District Court in Sallisaw. No date has been set for that trial yet. Sharon and Brenna Smith babysat the child while Melanie Smith and her husband were at work. Gore police, working on a tip, investigated the child's condition while he was at the home of Sharon Smith June 2005.
After seeing the child got permission to take the child into custody. They reported the child was emaciated, weighed only 26 pounds, could barely walk and was covered in bruises and cuts.
Gore police took the child to the emergency room at Sequoyah Memorial Hospital in Sallisaw. At the preliminary hearing for the Smiths in Sequoyah County District Court, the emergency room physician testified that the boy had bruises "from head to toe," was emaciated and appeared to be malnourished. He also testified that it was "hard to say" how many bruises the child had on his body, but guessed that the child had 30 to 40. He said the child also appeared to have hair loss in spots on his head, which could be the result of being malnourished.
In Melanie Smith's trial in Muskogee County, she testified Friday that the child was a danger to himself, that the boy hit himself and had bruises and abrasions from falling outside. Melanie Smith also testified the boy had an eating disorder.
Smith testified that her husband, Roy Albert Smith, caused some of the bruising by popping the boy with a washcloth.
Roy Albert Smith, who is also charged in Muskogee County and is the boy's stepfather, said his wife would beat the child for almost anything, and that she beat the child with a belt, kicked him and hit him with her open hand and her fist. Roy Smith said when he tried to stop his wife she would attack him.
Gore police testified that Sharon Smith told them the boy had blackened his eyes by falling and hitting his cheek on a door hinge.
However, in a videotaped interview the boy said his aunt, Sharon Smith, put handcuffs on his ankles, sometimes taped his hands together, and threw him in a closet. The child told investigators his aunt sometimes taped weights to his hand and made him hold them over his head.
In his testimony before the jury on Thursday, he said his mother whipped him with a belt and slapped his hands.
Melanie Smith told the jury she never saw bruises on the child and never saw sores on his feet.
Prosecutor John David Luton said the boy's care was the total responsibility of his mother.
Defense attorney R.J. Cook said Melanie Smith was trying to get treatment for her son and his alleged eating disability.
The jury began deliberations at 5:20 p.m. and returned with the verdict after about five hours. Melanie Smith will be formally sentenced after a presentencing investigation. The judge will determine if the jury's recommendation of a 12-year sentence for child neglect an a four-year sentence for child endangerment will run concurrently or consecutively.
During the trial doctors testified that the child has gained weight, his bruises and abrasions have healed, and his is living with a foster family.
