A local woman pleaded guilty Monday to a felony battery charge stemming from a 2016 incident where she burned her 3-year-old son with a cigarette for urinating in his pants.
Katie Kristine Lillard, 27, was set to stand trial Wednesday in Garland County Circuit, but opted to plead guilty to second-degree domestic battery, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and was sentenced to five years' probation, fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $420 in court costs.
The child will continue to remain in the custody of Lillard's mother and a court order barring Lillard from contact with the child will remain in place, Deputy Prosecutor Shana Alexander said Monday.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Dec. 4, 2016, Hot Springs police Detective Kenny May received a report from the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline regarding the abuse of a 3-year-old male.
The report stated the juvenile's grandmother was baby-sitting him in Little Rock when she noticed what she believed to be a cigarette burn on his upper left thigh. That same day, the juvenile was seen at National Park Medical Center where he told police Officer Joseph Samuels "his mother got mad at him and burned him with a cigarette."
On Dec. 5, the juvenile was interviewed at Cooper Anthony Mercy Child Advocacy Center and again said Lillard, his mother, burned him on his leg after he urinated in his pants. The grandmother and aunt were both interviewed and said the juvenile had disclosed the same information to them.
On Dec. 6, Lillard voluntarily came in for questioning and stated she is the sole caretaker of her son and no one else had supervised him between Thanksgiving Day and Dec. 2, when he left for Little Rock. Lillard said the injury occurred sometime after Thanksgiving because she would have noticed it when giving him a bath.
Lillard said she did not notice the injury until Nov. 29. She admitted she was the only person around the juvenile when he was injured. He then went to his grandmother's on Dec. 2.
On Dec. 9, medical records from Arkansas Children's Hospital were received which stated a physician confirmed the injury on the juvenile's leg was consistent with a cigarette burn.
A warrant was later issued for Lillard who was featured as a "Most Wanted" suspect on social media and in the newspaper leading to her arrest on Dec. 20, 2016. She was initially held without bond, but bond was later set at $3,500 and she was released on Jan. 22, 2017.
Local on 03/06/2018