The local babysitter who admitted to her role in the death of an infant is reconsidering her plea.
In February Hayley Breann Rausch, 25, of 20820 Wolford Maskill Road pleaded guilty to one count of endangering children for her involvement in the death of eight-week old Taylor Weber. Rausch was set to be sentenced for the crime last week.
In a motion to the court last week, defense attorney Sallynda Rothchild Dennison said her client wanted to withdraw her guilty plea.
“As of the date of the filing of this motion, Ms. Rausch still maintains her innocence of the charges and desires to exercise her right to a jury trial,” Dennison wrote.
Normally, once a person enters a guilty plea, they are not permitted to change their plea. Dennison, however, argued her client should be permitted to withdraw the guilty plea, “on the basis of newly discovered evidence, or a previously unknown or unavailable defense.”
In her motion, Dennison explained that earlier this month Fisher Price recalled the “Rock ‘n’ Play” after 32 babies died of suffocation. She said death certificates list unsafe sleep environment as a significant condition contributing to the deaths. The attorney said it is “imperative” to explore the other deaths.
She wrote that Rauch would not have pleaded guilty if she had known about this evidence.
Judge Mark O’Connor, who was appointed to the case, has not yet ruled on the defendant’s ability to withdraw her plea.
In February, Rausch entered a guilty plea to the endangering children charge. Her trial had been set to begin and potential jury members had already been seated in the courtroom when she entered the guilty plea.
In exchange, prosecutors agreed to dismiss a reckless homicide charge. Union County Prosecutor Dave Phillips has said both charges are third degree felonies and while she could be convicted of both charges, she can be sentenced on only one. No agreement was reached on sentencing and Phillips said he would fight for prison time.
Rausch could face as many as five years in prison and a fine of $10,000.
On Jan. 24, 2017, Rausch was babysitting eight-week old Taylor Weber. About 11:30 a.m., she went to check on the Weber and realized the baby wasn’t breathing. Rausch called 911 and performed CPR.
Weber was taken by ambulance to Memorial Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Following the initial guilty plea, prosecutors said they were pleased the family would not need to go through the trauma of a trial.
“I think anytime you have a situation like this, it is difficult to listen to listen to,” Phillips said moments after the initial guilty plea. “Marcy’s Law allows the family to sit through the trial and hear all the evidence and that’s a difficult thing to go through again at trial.”
He said that trauma for the family helped push the decision to offer a plea agreement.
“Anytime you have to listen to the facts, the medical facts of how a child died, how your child died, it is going to be disturbing to the parents,” Phillips said.
Union County Coroner Dr. David Applegate has said the baby sitters account of what happened does not match the medical evidence.
Rausch told investigators that at some point she laid Weber in a rocking bassinet at times and in a pack-and-play when the baby died.
Officials explained that medical evidence shows the baby was upside down and could not breathe. Phillips said that based on the evidence, the baby was hanging upside down, “for quite some time.”
He said Rausch was alone at her home with Weber and seven other children, all 3 years old or younger, with five of the children under a year old. Phillips said there was no indication Rausch intended to kill the baby, but she was unlicensed and knew she was taking a risk by attempting to care for so many children.