A trial date has been set for a Mountain Home woman charged with felony counts of battery and endangering the welfare of a minor, following an investigation into injuries sustained by her 18-month-old daughter and drugs found in the little girl’s system.
Twenty-one-year-old Samantha Laverty is scheduled to go on trial May 20th. She appeared during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday. Judge Gordon Webb set the trial date and ordered her to make a final pre-trial appearance May 16th.
The investigation into the child’s injuries was launched on Sept. 11th last year when the Baxter County Sheriff’s office received a call from Baxter Regional Medical Center regarding suspicious injuries to a young female child.
The child was later transferred to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, where she was treated for a broken femur. The medical staff at Children’s also expressed “great concern” for the multiple bruises on the infant’s face.
According to court records, the infant also tested positive for high levels of drugs in her system. Staff at Children’s Hospital reported the amount of methamphetamine present, for example, was 150 times more than is required to show positive in the body.
Laverty told investigators a number of conflicting stories of how the injuries might have occurred. According to the probable cause affidavit, the girl’s injuries were not consistent with the various narratives Laverty spun for investigators.
The Arkansas Department of Human Services, Division of Children and Family Services, participated in the investigation and has custody of the child.
Laverty is free on $15,000 bond.
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