Fault in case reassessed

• By SARAH CHACKO
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Mar 29, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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A state appellate court this week reduced the responsibility borne by the Louisiana Department of Social Services in the 2003 death of a Port Allen toddler.

Judges in the state’s 1st Circuit Court of Appeal ruled that the state, which was found by a trial jury to be 75 percent at fault in the death of 3-year-old Mya George, now bears 25 percent of the fault, the same as the girl’s mother.

The court also reduced the award of survival damages from $8 million to $2 million. State law caps such awards from governmental agencies at $500,000.

Mya’s mother, Melissa Turnage, was originally found to be 20 percent at fault.

The fault placed on Mya’s step-grandfather, Jessie White, who pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder in the beating death of the girl, increased from 5 percent to 50 percent by the court’s Wednesday ruling.

Two judges dissented from the ruling and one judge partially dissented.

Baton Rouge lawyer Cleo Fields, one of three attorneys who represented George’s father Travis Stewart, said Friday that the court took its time in assessing the case and thoroughly evaluating the positions of everyone involved.

“The court made it very clear that the state was grossly negligent in how it dealt with the numerous warnings on Mya George,” Fields said.

In August 2005, a West Baton Rouge Parish jury found the state department grossly negligent in the 2003 child-abuse death and awarded monetary damages, a verdict based partly on testimony that the department had been repeatedly notified about the abuse.

Mya died at a Baton Rouge hospital in 2003, after being removed from life support. She had been beaten until she was unconscious.

Turnage pleaded guilty to second-degree cruelty to a juvenile and is on probation. White is serving a life sentence in prison.

Department of Social Services Secretary Ann Silverberg Williamson said the department has learned valuable lessons from the tragic incident and continues to improve its programs.

“Mya’s case is one that the Department of Social Services will never forget,” she said. “We are heartsick when any child dies.”