EVERETT — The Lynnwood woman charged in the methadone overdose death of her 17-month-old granddaughter made her first court appearance Monday.
Robin Gail Reed, 54, wrung her hands as she stood before a judge in Snohomish County Superior Court. She is charged with second-degree manslaughter.
Reed is accused of criminal negligence in her granddaughter Alison’s death. Prosecutors allege that Reed failed to keep a bottle of methadone out of reach of the toddler.
Alison crawled out of her playpen, found the unsecured methadone in her grandmother’s purse and drank the cherry-flavored liquid, according to court documents. The toddler died May 17 from acute methadone intoxication.
Reed told detectives she takes methadone daily to combat a heroin addiction and signed a contract with a treatment clinic to promise to follow rigid safety procedures, including storing the drug in a locked box, court papers said.
Reed on Monday pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter charge. She remains out of custody awaiting a February trial.
“I have no reason to believe she is a flight risk,” deputy prosecutor Tammy Bayard said of her decision not to ask that Reed be held on bail. The defendant doesn’t have a history of failing to show up for court hearings, nor is she considered a danger to the community, Bayard said.
Reed on Monday was ordered not to use any drugs without a doctor’s permission. She also was ordered not to leave the state without a judge’s permission.
Superior Court Judge David Kurtz asked Bayard why the prosecutor wasn’t asking Reed to be banned from having contact with children.
“This was a relative,” Bayard explained. “I don’t believe she has regular contact with children.”
Alison stayed with Reed a couple of nights a week while the girl’s mother worked, Bayard wrote in charging documents.
Reed found the girl unresponsive and lying on her stomach on the floor outside her playpen, court papers said. She called 911 but there was nothing paramedics could do.
Alison was already dead.
Reed said she had signed a contract, promising to follow rules in order to be allowed to ingest methadone without direct supervision, outside the clinic.
Clinics generally require clients to consume their daily methadone in the presence of medical staff at the facilities. Methadone has a high street value and is addictive.
Reed explained that because the clinic is closed on Sundays she is given a dose on Saturdays to bring home with her and take the next day. The clinic gave her a lock-box to store the methadone in overnight. She also agreed to consume the entire dose and not save any for later use.
Reed told detectives the methadone Alison drank was from a portion she had saved from the previous Sunday, court papers said. The lock-box was in her car, investigators reported.
Three Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives watched Monday’s proceedings from the second row in the courtroom. They have investigated the deaths of two children in the past six months.
A 6-year-old girl was shot to death inside her Tulalip home earlier this month. Her father is charged by complaint with manslaughter in the girl’s death. Detectives believe he was intoxicated when he accidentally shot her while he was cleaning his gun.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
