Police officers, courts and juries may be easily influenced by heart-wrenching stories, but it is always important that someone accused of a crime be given a fair and unbiased trial. One thing that is bound to pull on the heartstrings of the court is a tale of suspected child abuse. In this story, a 23-year-old mother will not only have to convince the court that she was not smoking methamphetamine, but also that she has not been a bad mother in order to clear her name.
Late last month a woman called a Rice County social worker in southern Minnesota after she took a child from its mother, complaining that the home had methamphetamine smoke in it. The Faribault police chief has allegedly investigated the matter and arrested the infant’s 23-year-old mother.
The woman who seems to have taken the child from its mother said she had gone to the home where the young mother was staying and supposedly smelled meth smoke. While police claim the mother had smoked methamphetamine in front of the child, the woman who allegedly found this infant never reported seeing the mother use meth. After she met the child’s mother, she insisted on taking the child from the mother and from the residence. Reluctantly, the mother agreed.
Police later met with her and the woman admitted that she had been staying with friends at the Faribault apartment until she could get a ride back to Northfield. Unfortunately, the mother made the common mistake of talking with police. Instead of getting a criminal defense lawyer that could ensure police protected her rights during an interrogation, the woman apparently told police that she and her friends had used methamphetamine earlier in the evening. It is unclear, however, if the woman was distraught over having her child taken from her and was not sure to what she was admitting.
