Mother pleads guilty in New London baby burn case
New London resident Elizabeth Mendez-Marchany pleaded guilty Wednesday in New London Superior Court to leaving her 20-month-old son unattended in a scalding bathtub on Sept. 20, 2015, causing the child to suffer second-degree burns over 40 percent of his body.
Mendez-Marchany, 39, has been held in lieu of $150,000 bond at the Janet S. York Correctional Institution since city police arrested her in October 2015. Under a plea agreement worked out by prosecutor Lawrence J. Tytla and defense attorney Paul F. Chinigo, she would be sentenced July 20 to 15 months in prison followed by five years of probation for risk of injury to a minor.
Judge Hillary B. Strackbein warned Mendez-Marchany she could reject the plea deal after reading a presentencing investigation that will be conducted by the Department of Adult Probation.
"This was a very disturbing incident," Strackbein said. "I need to read more before I accept this disposition."
The child has been living with his father, and attorney Ryan Ziolkowski, the victim's guardian ad litem, has indicated the proposed disposition is acceptable, Tytla said.
Mendez-Marchany pleaded guilty under the Alford Doctrine, which indicates she does not agree with the state's version of events but does not want to risk going to trial, where she would face a harsher sentence if convicted.
According to court documents and testimony, Mendez-Marchany called police report that her son had fallen into a bathtub and was having difficulty breathing. Firefighters checked the baby and saw that he had burns on his face, buttocks, genitals, legs and feet. He was treated at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, then transferred to the Shriners Hospital in Boston due to the severity of his injuries. A doctor at Shriners said that based on the child's injuries, it appeared he had been in a sitting position in the tub.
"The defendant gave several accounts as to what happened," Tytla said. "She ultimately admitted she placed the child in the tub and ran the water and left the child unattended."
Mendez-Marchany told police she was tending to her daughter downstairs at her Bristol Street home. She said she heard her son crying as she carried the girl upstairs, but passed by the bathroom when the boy stopped crying. She said she took her daughter into a bedroom, undressed her and put on a movie for the child before returning to the bathroom.
She admitted she was flustered and not paying attention to her son and said the incident was "all her fault."
New London police said that a week before the incident, a repairman had adjusted the temperature of the water heater to the maximum setting after Mendez-Marchany complained the water was not hot enough.
k.florin@theday.com
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