Mom seeks to euthanize girl she gave up

WESTFIELD, Mass. — Allison Avrett’s photos show her daughter Haleigh as a smiling little girl with brown bangs hanging over her squinting eyes.

Those pictures were taken before Mrs. Avrett gave up Haleigh for adoption five years ago, and long before the purported beating that landed the 11-year-old in a hospital attached to the ventilator and feeding tube.

Now, with Haleigh’s doctors saying she will never recover from her vegetative state, the child is at the center of a life-and-death legal struggle.

The state Department of Social Services, which has had custody of Haleigh since she was hospitalized Sept. 11, wants to remove her from life support.

Her stepfather, Jason Strickland, who is charged in her beating and could be tried for murder if she dies, wants to keep the girl alive. He is free on bail while awaiting trial.

A juvenile court judge has ruled that Haleigh should be allowed to die. Mr. Strickland has appealed, and the state’s highest court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case today.

Mrs. Avrett, who gave up her parental rights when she let her sister adopt Haleigh in 2000, says her daughter should not suffer anymore.

“They say the most she might ever do is open her eyes,” said Mrs. Avrett, a 29-year-old stay-at-home mom with two other children. “I don’t want her to sit there longer than she needs to.”

Police say the injuries that left Haleigh with severe brain-stem injuries came at the hands of Mr. Strickland and his wife, Holli, Mrs. Avrett’s sister.

Within two weeks after the couple pleaded not guilty to the beating. Mrs. Strickland was fatally shot in her grandmother’s West Springfield apartment. The body of her 71-year-old grandmother, Constance Young, was beside her. The suspected double suicide or murder-suicide is under investigation.

In a legal brief filed ahead of today’s hearing, Mr. Strickland, 31, asks to be declared Haleigh’s de facto parent. His attorney, John Egan, insists that his client is not motivated by the chance he could be charged with murder if the girl dies.

“We should be coming down on the side of life as opposed to death,” he said.

In 1999, Mrs. Avrett broke up with her boyfriend and married another man. A year later — after what Mrs. Avrett said had been several years of strong recommendation by the social services department — she agreed to let her older sister formally adopt Haleigh.

But Mrs. Avrett said things started to change after her sister married Mr. Strickland.

“When Jason came into the picture, we started seeing less of Haleigh,” she said.

According to court documents filed by Mr. Strickland’s attorney, Haleigh had been hospitalized during the past three years for self-inflicted injuries. The girl’s reported tendency to hurt herself is a cornerstone of Mr. Strickland’s defense.

But Alicia Weiss, a baby sitter for Haleigh, testified at a hearing in Mr. Strickland’s criminal case that she saw Mrs. Strickland kick the girl down the stairs repeatedly and hit her with a baseball bat. She said she also saw Mr. Strickland hit the girl twice with an open hand and once with a plastic stick.

Although Mr. Strickland has not been accused of dealing any particular blows to the child, court documents accuse him of watching as his wife abused Haleigh.

Mrs. Avrett’s hope is that the Supreme Judicial Court will uphold the decision to let Haleigh die and that the state will allow her to plan her daughter’s funeral.

“I’ve had guilt for years over giving her up for adoption,” Mrs. Avrett said.