Jury selection set in infant abuse case
WAYNESBURG – A Dilliner couple charged separately for the alleged physical abuse of their infant daughter in 2013 have both opted to go to trial.
Bobby J. Sammons, 23, and Ashley Renee Cordwell, 18, of 105 Ford St., were scheduled to enter pleas Monday but informed the court they intend to face a jury.
Sammons, who has been held in Greene County jail on $50,000 straight cash bond since his arrest Nov. 4, did not appear in court.
Sammons is charged with aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.
Cordwell is charged with endangering the welfare of children and recklessly endangering another person. She is free on bond.
Jury selection in both cases is slated for Sept. 4.
During a court proceeding in February, Sammon’s attorney Harry Cancelmi asked for additional time to have a pediatric radiologist look over the medical records of the baby girl. It was the third such continuance.
Pennsylvania State Police officers were called to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va., July 31 to investigate the alleged abuse of the baby. According to a criminal complaint, it is believed the child was 3 days old when the abuse began.
Dr. Jeffrey Lancaster showed police X-rays of the child taken at birth at Ruby Memorial Hospital and those taken when she was brought in with a broken right femur bone.
Lancaster said there were no breaks in the first X-rays but indicated four healing rib fractures on the left side, two healing rib fractures on the right to the middle, and healing left radius and ulna bones near the wrist. Dr. Michael Cunningham, a radiologist at the hospital, also viewed the X-rays and reported additional factures to the tibial bones on the right and left lower legs that were healing.
Police said the baby was lying in her hospital bed upon their arrival at Ruby Memorial with a sling on both of her legs for a right femur bone fracture.
Doctors told police the “femur fracture was suspicious for nonaccidental trauma.”
Police said Sammons initially told them the family dog jumped onto the bed while he was out of the room and may have injured the baby.
According to police, Sammons later said he was changing the baby’s diaper when he reached across the bed for a clean diaper, his knee went into the baby’s hip and he heard her leg pop.