TigressPen
04-04-2008, 07:15 AM
Baby in Sumner abuse case dies
GALLATIN — Daniel Tate, the 1-year-old at the center of a high-profile child abuse and neglect case in Portland, has died.
The state medical examiner's office was conducting an autopsy Thursday, said District Attorney Ray Whitley.
The baby's father, 21-year-old Thomas Snelling, is accused of slamming Daniel's head into a crib and fracturing the child's skull on March 2. Snelling is in the Sumner County Jail, facing one count of aggravated child abuse and five charges of child neglect.
Whitley said the death would affect those charges, but wouldn't say how.
"The case has already been bound over to the grand jury." Whitley said. "We would not take out new arrest warrants. We will leave it up to the grand jury to address new charges."
A Sumner County grand jury also has the case against Daniel's mother, Jeanie Tate, 30.
Tate, who was not at home at the time of the March 2 incident involving Daniel, faces five charges of child neglect.
Whitley said the grand jury might take up the cases in the session that begins Monday, or in the May session.
Tate's other four children, ages 3, 6, 8 and 10, also lived with her and Snelling at 555 N. Harris Road in Portland, authorities have said. Those children are in the custody of the Tennessee Department of Children's Services.
Soon after the incident, the Portland Police Department described the older children as "dirty, poorly clothed and hungry, living in an unsanitary, unsafe and unhealthy environment."
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080404/NEWS03/804040423
GALLATIN — Daniel Tate, the 1-year-old at the center of a high-profile child abuse and neglect case in Portland, has died.
The state medical examiner's office was conducting an autopsy Thursday, said District Attorney Ray Whitley.
The baby's father, 21-year-old Thomas Snelling, is accused of slamming Daniel's head into a crib and fracturing the child's skull on March 2. Snelling is in the Sumner County Jail, facing one count of aggravated child abuse and five charges of child neglect.
Whitley said the death would affect those charges, but wouldn't say how.
"The case has already been bound over to the grand jury." Whitley said. "We would not take out new arrest warrants. We will leave it up to the grand jury to address new charges."
A Sumner County grand jury also has the case against Daniel's mother, Jeanie Tate, 30.
Tate, who was not at home at the time of the March 2 incident involving Daniel, faces five charges of child neglect.
Whitley said the grand jury might take up the cases in the session that begins Monday, or in the May session.
Tate's other four children, ages 3, 6, 8 and 10, also lived with her and Snelling at 555 N. Harris Road in Portland, authorities have said. Those children are in the custody of the Tennessee Department of Children's Services.
Soon after the incident, the Portland Police Department described the older children as "dirty, poorly clothed and hungry, living in an unsanitary, unsafe and unhealthy environment."
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080404/NEWS03/804040423