A Midway woman accused of 2nd degree murder in the beating death of an 18-month-old baby made a reappearance in Baxter County Circuit Court/Criminal Division Monday (January 12) to review the status of her case.
Twenty-nine-year-old Terra Jonell Thompson had entered a not guilty plea to the charges against her including 2nd degree murder and 1st and 2nd degree battery during a court session in early September.
It was announced in court Monday by her attorney that Thompson would rely on a defense of mental disease or defect. A petition to have Thompson psychologically evaluated was filed January 6.
THE INCIDENT
On August 29 last year, a Baxter County sheriff’s deputy was called to an address along State Highway 178 to respond to a report of an infant that was barely breathing.
When the investigator arrived, he was told the infant had already been transported to Baxter Health and was reported to have obvious bruising on the right side of his face and bleeding in the brain.
Baxter Health staff advised the infant would be transferred to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. According to the Pulaski County Coroner’s office, the infant was pronounced dead just before 11:30 a.m. on August 30.
When Thompson was interviewed, she said she had become upset and had “slammed” the infant. She said when she pushed the infant down, he had hit the back of his head.
She also admitted striking the 18-month-old “hard” with an open palm. Thompson said she had put makeup on the infant to “try to cover up the injury.”
Thompson said when her mother had gotten home about 3 p.m., she found that the baby was not breathing and first responders were called.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Thompson and her five-year-old child, her mother, the 18-month-old and his two-year-old sibling all lived in the mobile home located in the Midway area.
The infant and his two-year-old sibling had lived in the household for about a week and a half because the biological mother of the children did not “have a stable home” at the time after moving back to Arkansas from Texas.
When members of the family were interviewed, the two-year-old sibling of the victim had a large bruise on the cheek area. Thompson told investigators she had hit the child because she became upset that it was crying.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the two-year-old was taken by a friend of the biological mother. Thompson’s own five-year-old daughter was reported to be in the custody of the Arkansas Department of Human Services.
Ironically, when Thompson and her husband were going through a divorce in 2022-2023, Thompson filed a handwritten notice in the case that she did not want her estranged husband to have custody of the child “because I don’t trust him with her.”
The Public Defender’s office represents Thompson.
Thompson was booked into the Baxter County Detention Center at about 11:30 p.m. on the day of her arrest. She was initially booked on the battery charges. The murder charge was added the next day.
According to jail logs, Thompson has never been previously booked into the detention center. Her bond is set at $100,000.
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