Appeals court affirms 65 year sentence for mom of Baby Faith
Published 1:14 pm Thursday, October 19, 2017
A court of appeals has affirmed a 65-year sentence to a Port Arthur mother found guilty of seriously injuring her infant.
The Thirteenth Court of Appeals made the decision, affirming the Jefferson County jury’s sentence of 20 years and 65 years issued to Christine Johnson regarding her child, Faith Mason, on Thursday.
Johnson, who was 22 at the time of the August 2015 trial, was found guilty of second-degree injury to a child with a punishment of 20 years and guilty of first degree injury to a child by omission and assessed a 65 year sentence.
The week-long emotional trial — which brought testimony from police, medical experts and a longtime volunteer with Court Appointed Special Advocates — showed graphic images of the then one-month-old, dubbed Baby Faith, who suffered more than 40 fractures some of which were weeks old, in all parts of her body.
During the trial Prosecutor Pat Knauth called Angela Webb, an emergency room nurse who was on duty on Aug. 18, 2013 when Johnson brought the child in to Christus Hospital-St. Mary for treatment, according to archive information.
Webb’s voice cracked as she described what she called the worst case of physical abuse she has ever seen,
“Her femur was broken on the left side and her eye had turned black. In the ER we call that ‘raccoon eyes,’” Webb said while describing how they tried to check the then one-month old child’s vital signs and insert an IV. “Every time we grabbed something (body part) it was broken.”
Nurses were forced to place the IV in the child’s neck and as they tried to stabilize the infant began to ask the mother how this happened.
Webb looked directly at the defendant as she broke down in tears.
“I said ‘tell me what happened to this child, lie to me, tell me she fell off the bed … but you didn’t say anything. You didn’t cry. You didn’t look at her. Nothing,” Webb said. “Kids’ bones are malleable so for a child that age to have those broken bones, something bad happened.”
Webb noticed other injuries while working to save the infant’s life; a bruised, swollen, deformed arm and her left femur ‘sticking out.’ In addition, Baby Faith’s right foot ‘flopped’ and ‘hung to the side’ indicated, she testified, more broken bones as well as a large area of black and purple bruising along her coccyx or tailbone area.
There were also injuries described as ‘hangman’s fractures,’ which are fractures of specific neck vertebrae indicating a broken neck as well.
The baby was transported to Texas Children’s Hospital in the car of the “Kangaroo Crew,” a medical specialty team from the hospital.
Police later concluded the parents, Johnson and Darrell Mason, were responsible for the injuries and by omission failed to provide medical care to Baby Faith, according to a press release from the district attorney’s office.
Johnson’s family spoke to The News during a break in the trial and said it was the baby’s father, not Johnson, who harmed Baby Faith.
Johnson appealed the convictions and the appeal was reviewed by the Thirteenth Court of Appeals, Corpus Christi. The case had been transferred from the Ninth Court of Appeals, Beaumont pursuant to a docket equalization order.
Initially, the Thirteenth Court of Appeals reversed the sixty-five year sentence. The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office requested a rehearing of the decision arguing that the jury’s sentence was proper. Upon reconsideration, the Thirteenth Court of Appeals agreed and affirmed the jury’s verdicts of guilt on both charges resulting in Christine Johnson’s sentences of 20 and 65 years.
Assistant District Attorneys Patrick Knauth and Randi King prosecuted the case at trial. Assistant District Attorney Wayln Thompson and Angela Kneeland litigated the appeal.
The child’s father entered a peal deal and was sentenced to 25 years in 2016 for failing to stop the abuse.
Baby Faith is still recovering and in March was adopted and living with her new family.