3 plead guilty to assault in attack at party
Girl, 12, was beaten by children, teens at ’04 birthday gathering; Permanent brain damage; Instigator of free-for-all faces up to 30 years
By Julie Bykowicz
Sun Staff
March 3, 2005, 9:19 PM EST
The West Baltimore woman who prosecutors called the ringleader of last year's birthday party beating of a 12-year-old girl, and two other principal figures in the attack, pleaded guilty Thursday to assault charges.
Nicole Ashley Townes was kicked, stomped and punched by a group of teenagers and children Feb. 28, 2004, in the Loudon Avenue home of the alleged instigator, Monique Baldwin, 37. Nicole spent three weeks in a coma and has permanent brain damage, a city prosecutor said, while her 11-year-old sister, Brenda Bailey, escaped the attack with a broken nose, bruises and an injured leg.
Seven women and girls, including Baldwin's daughters, were charged. In addition to Thursday's three guilty pleas, two teenagers have been sentenced in juvenile court. Prosecutors said they have reached tentative plea arrangements with two other teenagers, who could appear in court Friday.
"The younger children who inflicted most of the injuries have also been the ones to express the most remorse," Assistant State's Attorney Julie Drake said after Thursday's hearing. She said she pushed for plea deals because she felt that it would be too traumatic for Baldwin's children to testify against their mother.
Baldwin pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and second-degree child abuse and faces up to 30 years in prison when she is sentenced in May -- the harshest punishment of anyone charged in the attack.
Baldwin's now-20-year-old daughter, Erin, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and was sentenced to four years in prison and four years of probation. Kenya Keene, the 25-year-old caretaker of Nicole and Brenda, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault for striking Brenda before the party, and reckless endangerment.
The three had been charged with attempted first-degree murder.
Lawyers for the women said they were satisfied with the deals, particularly given the horrific circumstances of the attack. Michael Lee Kaplan, Monique Baldwin's attorney, said "things really could have gone badly" if there had been a trial.
He added that pleading guilty was one way that the elder Baldwin has expressed remorse for what happened.
In a chilling account of the attack read into the court record Thursday, Drake described how a birthday party degenerated into a free-for-all attack on Nicole, led by Monique Baldwin.
Party-goers became enraged when a boy, on a dare, kissed Nicole. Keene left the party, telling Monique Baldwin to discipline the girl "any way she wanted," Drake said.
Monique Baldwin then told her young relatives, whom she corralled in the kitchen, to "handle your business" and shoved one of her daughters toward Nicole. The beating grew so intense that Baldwin moved the group into the dining room and shut the windows and turned up the music, Drake said.
At one point, Seletta Broaddus, then 15, arrived and used her high-heeled boots to stomp and kick Nicole, Drake said. Monique Baldwin ordered the youngsters to continue beating Nicole until she bled -- even encouraging a 7-year-old boy to punch her.
When Nicole went limp, Monique Baldwin called Keene, and Erin Baldwin called 911. The women hatched a story that Nicole had collapsed while dancing because of a diabetic episode, Drake said.
The misinformation prevented paramedics and doctors from properly treating Nicole for several crucial hours. They later discovered that she had substantial brain injuries, the prosecutor said.
A plea arrangement for Broaddus, disclosed Thursday in court, includes her pleading guilty to first-degree assault and the transfer of her case to juve nile court for sentencing. She is scheduled to appear in Circuit Court Friday.
Drake said charges against Temprest Baldwin, the now-16-year-old niece of Monique Baldwin, likely will be transferred to juvenile court, possibly as early as Friday.
Simply to get him/her out of the classroom) But she has told me of the crazy stuff that happens with some of the kids, and how the parents always blame the therapists. Some of the kids are truly in need of help, some of them need to be disciplined very badly.
