By WMBD TV
TAZEWELL COUNTY – A trio of appellate court judges said no to a request by a Pekin woman, accused of suffocating a 10-month-old baby, to stay out of jail pending trial.
The 4th District Appellate Court in Springfield sided with Tazewell County Judges Derek Asbury and then Chris Doscotch, who both said they believed, “no court order could protect the community or children from Makenna Rhodes.”
The 33-page order, penned by Judge Raylene Grischow with Judges Kathryn Zenoff and Peter Cavanagh, also notes that while Rhodes comes from a loving and kind family who clearly cares about her, that was also an issue as she is a mother to a young child.
“The record supports the trial court’s conclusion that, under the specific articulable facts in this case, the risk to the child’s safety would remain even if the defendant were on home confinement under the supervision of her closest family members, who steadfastly believe in her innocence, with her child being placed with an unidentified family member at an unidentified location,” the judges wrote.
Last July, Asbury ordered Rhodes held after a lengthy hearing, saying the 21-year-old babysitter was potentially a danger to her own 3-month-old child. The judge came to that conclusion because Rhodes, when talking to police, said she acted out of frustration during the incident regarding a 10-month-old in her care.Trial set for Pekin babysitter accused of smothering infant
Rhodes faces a single count of first-degree murder for the death of a baby girl last June. According to charging documents, she “applied pressure with a foreign object” to the child, knowing that such actions created a strong probability of death or great bodily harm.
She faces up to 100 years in prison, if convicted.
At two different hearings, before Asbury and then Doscotch, the judges both said the temptation to allow Rhodes access to her own child was too great. Asbury, during last summer’s hearing, said it wasn’t fair or proper to ask five of Rhodes’ family members to watch her around the clock while she was in home confinement.
And the appellate judges agreed, saying “Given the evidence, including defendant’s conduct and the closeness of this family, where it was shown that multiple generations are living together, the trial court’s concern regarding the ‘likelihood of visitation violations’ was warranted.”
She will next appear in late March for a review hearing before Doscotch.
