Arshon Baker (5) R.I.P.

Ohio Mom Beats 5 yr old To Death

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/21413101/detail.html


CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland mother was arrested after her 5-year-old son died Saturday at MetroHealth Medical Center.

Angel Glass, 24, was taken into police custody after hospital officials notified the authorities Friday night that her son had been beaten nearly to death.

The boy, Arshon Baker, was taken to the hospital by his mother after he hit his head on a table trying to flee from her after she repeatedly beat him with a hair brush and a braided belt, police officials said.

Police said Baker died at 12:20 p.m.

Police said Glass told them her temper flared with her son when he tugged on her dress to get her attention while she was doing someone else's hair around 6 p.m. Friday. She reportedly sent him to a corner, but he left it, she began hitting him as punishment.

Glass's description of what happened is not consistent with her son's injuries, police said. She has not yet been charged.

This is not Glass' first brush with the law. Police said she previously served three years in prison for felonious assault and has an unresolved felonious assault case from 2007 with the court system.

The boy has two siblings, one under a year old and the other 7 years old.

Woman charged with murder was wanted on assault charges
By Diane Suchetka, The Plain Dealer
November 18, 2009, 9:25PM
Thomas Ondrey, The Plain DealerWhen Angel Glass, 24, made her initial court appearance on charges of aggravated murder Oct. 28, Cleveland Municipal Judge Charles Patton Jr. set her bond at $1 million.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- For the past two years, Cuyahoga County sheriff's deputies have had a court order to arrest Angel Glass on charges that she cut and bit another woman during a late-night fight.

But they never picked her up on the felonious assault charges from 2007.

On Tuesday the 24-year-old Cleveland woman was indicted for the aggravated murder of her 5-year-old son, Arshon Baker, who died Oct. 24. Police say she beat the kindergartner to death with a belt. And prosecutors are asking for the death penalty.

Could arresting her have saved her son?

"It's far too speculative to say this could've been prevented," says Geoffrey Mearns, a former federal prosecutor and dean of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University. "But I believe it's incumbent on law enforcement to focus on those cases that pose the highest risk. And this is a woman who had a history of serious violence. In my judgment, it's the kind of warrant that ought to have been served."

When asked why it wasn't served, Cuyahoga County Sheriff Bob Reid said his staff is overworked.

"We have 15,000 warrants on file," Reid said. "And we have four deputies to go out and serve them. We just can't stay on top of the numbers."

Reid says his deputies pick up thousands of fugitives a year. And they go after the most serious offenders first.

"Our priorities are to go after the worst of the worst," Reid said, "not that felonious assault isn't serious.

"The problem is maybe you're picking up 20 a week and there are 30 more that have been placed in the system. That's a guess on the number, but I'm confident that's very close.

"At the end of the day, it's sad to say and sorry to say, we just can't keep up with it."

Mearns said a number of scenarios could've have kept Glass out of jail even if she had been picked up: the charges could've been dropped, she could've posted bond and been released or she could've been found not guilty.

And even if she had been tried and convicted, she could've received a short prison term or probation, he said.

From 2003 to 2006, Glass served time in prison on another felonious assault charge. In that case, court records say, she was involved in a fight that resulted in her then-boyfriend shooting an East Cleveland police officer.

Glass was pregnant with Arshon when she went to prison on Dec. 17, 2003, a week before her 20th birthday.

She was released on June 18, 2006, and was supervised by a parole officer until Aug. 10, 2007, according to prison officials.

On July 18, 2007, weeks before her supervision ended, a woman told police that Glass cut and bit her in a fight as the woman drove Glass home.


Arshon Baker, at the age of 4Three months later, a grand jury indicted Glass on charges of felonious assault. When she failed to appear at her arraignment, a warrant was issued for her arrest. But she was never picked up.

Then, four weeks ago, on Oct. 23, police arrested Glass and accused her of beating her son. He died the next day of blunt force trauma to the head, trunk and extremities, according to a spokesman for the Cuyahoga County coroner's office.

Police records say Glass tried talking to the boy about lifting up her dress, but he wouldn't listen, so she put him in the corner. When he wouldn't stay, she began to hit him -- first with a hair brush, then a belt.

Glass told officers that the boy ran from her and when she grabbed his leg to stop him, he fell and hit his head on a dresser, according to the police report. She continued beating the boy until he went limp, the report says. Then she poured a glass of water on his head and called 9-1-1.

The boy arrived at MetroHealth Medical Center with numerous cuts -- old and new – all over his body, including the bottoms of his feet and his groin. The old injuries included broken wrists, according to a statement from the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office.

Glass was indicted Tuesday on charges of aggravated murder, felonious assault and child endangering. She is being held in the county jail on a $1 million bond.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/11/woman_charged_with_murder_was.html

Prosecutors to seek death penalty for Angel Glass in beating death of her son
By Diane Suchetka, The Plain Dealer
November 17, 2009, 6:40PM
Plain Dealer fileAngel Glass appears in court.CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County prosecutors will ask for the death penalty in their case against Angel Glass, the Cleveland woman accused of beating her five-year-old son to death.

Glass, 24, is in the county jail on a $1 million bond, charged with aggravated murder in the death of her son, Arshon Baker.

A Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted her Tuesday on two counts of murder, two counts of aggravated murder, one count of felonious assault and one count of endangering children.

By law, prosecutors can seek the death penalty for those charged with murder if the victim is less than 13 years old.

The police report says Glass told officers that she put her son in the corner to punish him for lifting her dress, but he wouldn't stay there, so she began hitting him on the tops of his hands with a hairbrush. When that had no effect, the report says, she began beating the boy all over his body with a belt. As the boy tried to run away, she told police she grabbed his leg and he fell, hit his head on a dresser and went limp. She tried to revive him by pouring a glass of water on his head. Then she called 911.


Arshon Baker, at the age of 4Arshon, a kindergartner, died the following day, Oct. 24, at MetroHealth Medical Center of blunt force trauma to the head, trunk and extremities, according to a spokesman for the Cuyahoga County Coroner's office.

The police report says there was bleeding in the boy's brain and both of his lungs were bruised.

It also says burn scars, new burns and scars from previous beatings with an extension cord covered his body. In addition, he had old and new cuts even on the bottoms of his feet and his groin.

If Glass is convicted and sentenced to death, she will join 166 men and one woman now on Ohio's death row. The woman, Donna Roberts of Trumbull County, was sentenced to death in 2003 for the murder of her ex-husband, Robert Fingerhut.

Before Roberts was condemned, no woman had been on Ohio's death row since 1991. That year, former Gov. Richard F. Celeste commuted the sentences of the four women then awaiting execution to life in prison.

On Tuesday the grand jury also indicted Larry Wanzo, the man Glass lived with and referred to as her fianc , on a charge of obstructing justice. According to a news release from the prosecutor's office, Wanzo, 22, refused to allow police to search their home the day after the beating.

Wanzo is being held in the county jail on a $250,000 bond.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/11/prosecutors_to_seek_death_pena.html

Funeral set for Arshon Baker, 5, who died after he was beaten by his mother
By Diane Suchetka, The Plain Dealer
October 30, 2009, 7:14PM

Funeral services for Arshon Baker, the 5-year-old Cleveland boy who police said died after his mother beat him for tugging on her dress, will be Tuesday at the Highland Church of Christ, 27495 Highland Road, Richmond Heights.

The 10 a.m. wake will be followed by a funeral at 10:30. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery in Cleveland.

Services were delayed while family members tried to raise money to cover the costs. They have set up the Arshon Baker memorial fund and are asking that donations to help the family be made at any FirstMerit Bank branch.

Arshon, a quiet kindergartner who loved cartoons, hamburgers and french fries, has two sisters. Family members said they are in the custody of the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services.

His mother, Angel Glass, 24, is in jail on $1 million bond, charged with aggravated murder in his Oct. 24 death. The man she lived with, Larry Wanzo, has been charged with obstruction of justice in connection with the case. His bond is $250,000.

Arshon was born in 2004, while his mother was in prison.

He died of blunt force trauma to the head, trunk and extremities, according to the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office.

Police have said the boy's body was covered with burns, bruises and new and healed cuts.

Boyd & Son Funeral Home, 2165 East 89th St., is handling arrangements.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/10/funeral_set_for_arshon_baker.html

Locked Up: $1M Bond For Pregnant Mother Accused Of Savagely Beating Five-Year-Old Son
Posted: Oct 24, 2009 12:39 PM EDT
Updated: Oct 28, 2009 4:08 PM EDT

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UPDATE: CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - The Cleveland mother accused of fatally beating her five-year-old son will remain behind bars.

Angel Glass slapped with a $1M bond after her Wednesday morning court appearance.

Cops say Glass beat her 5-year-old son - Arshon Baker - so badly that he went into cardiac arrest. The child later died at MetroHealth Medical Center.

The brutal beating happened Friday at 6615 Ovington when police say the little boy his mother's dress to get her attention. Glass turned and allegedly beat the boy for his actions.

Cleveland Police Lt. Thomas Stacho tells 19 Action News that Baker's body was covered with cuts, scars, bruises and burns both old and new, and also had injuries to bottom of his feet and groin area.

Glass' attorney acknowledged that she is currently pregnant.

Larry Wanzo was in the home when investigators arrived. He is charged with obstruction of justice for not answering officers' questions relating to the beating. His bond was set at $250K.

http://www.woio.com/Global/story.asp?S=11376721