A Cook County judge Tuesday questioned a state law that allowed a South Side woman charged with killing a child to hold a day-care license despite a criminal record for drug and weapons convictions.
“She got a license from the State of Illinois after being convicted of possession of cannabis?” Judge Nicholas Ford asked before setting a $750,000 bond for Versie E. Ramirez-Carr.
“Apparently,” defense attorney Rodrick F. Wimberly said.
The charges against Ramirez-Carr, 29, of the 9800 block of South Merrion Avenue, come 10 days after she was initially released from custody in the death of 14-month-old Jasmine Mitchell, who prosecutors now say died due to shaken-baby syndrome.
Under state law, the felony drug conviction and a misdemeanor gun possession charge did not prohibit her from being licensed to operate a home day-care center, said Renard Jackson, head of the licensing division at the state Department of Children and Family Services.
The child-care act does bar applicants convicted of more than two dozen crimes, including murder, sex abuse, aggravated battery, child abduction and vehicular homicide.
Child advocate Pat Goodman, who was a DCFS licensing supervisor for 20 years, said the judge has a point.
“It raises a red flag that more needs to be known about what kind of person gets a license,” Goodman said.
At the time of Jasmine’s death, prosecutors said the injuries were consistent with Ramirez-Carr’s version that the baby accidentally hit her head on a table as she was playing airplane with the toddler. The Cook County medical examiner’s office had ruled the death a homicide a day after the incident.
In court Tuesday, Assistant State’s Atty. Kathaleen Lanahan said that after further investigation by child-abuse experts, authorities determined Jasmine’s injuries were inconsistent with an accidental death.
“We never closed the book on it,” said John Gorman, spokesman for State’s Atty. Richard Devine. “We needed to investigate further.”
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DCFS hired a Chicago pediatrician who is an expert in child abuse and head injuries to look into Jasmine’s injuries.
“She [the doctor] found that the explanation for the injuries didn’t fit the injuries,” said John Goad, deputy director for child protection of DCFS. “It was very unlikely that it was an accident.”
Ramirez-Carr’s attorney said the state’s decision to change course would be part of his client’s defense.
“Two families are grieving today. Mrs. Carr loved that baby,” Wimberly said after the hearing.
Ramirez-Carr was licensed March 7 to care for four children. Jasmine was injured June 6 and died two days later. Ramirez-Carr pleaded guilty in July 2000 to possessing an ounce of cannabis and was sentenced to 18 months’ probation, Lanahan said.
A spokeswoman for the Cook County Department of Probation said Ramirez-Carr violated her probation by failing to report to her caseworker for two months and not paying a $200 fine.
Ramirez-Carr pleaded guilty in March 1999 to misdemeanor unlawful use of a weapon.