Karen Mc Carron - Background

Background

Karen and Paul McCarron's first child was Katherine, diagnosed with autism in 2004. In September of that year, Paul and Katie moved to North Carolina to live with her paternal grandmother. This move was made so Katie could attend The Mariposa School in Cary, North Carolina, a special school for children with autism and related disorders. Paul and Katie returned home to Illinois on holidays. Karen, who was a pathologist with the Peoria-Tazewell Pathology Group, stayed in Morton, Illinois with their younger daughter Emily, and visited North Carolina occasionally.

After 20 months, the family decided to return full-time to Illinois. Paul McCarron took Katie to their home in Illinois on May 3, 2006. On May 7, 2006, Paul returned to North Carolina to fulfill the last three weeks of his work commitment. Katie remained in Illinois under the care of her mother and maternal grandparents, along with her younger sister. On the afternoon of Saturday May 13, Mother's Day, 2006, Karen killed Katie by suffocating her in a plastic bag. In the very early hours of Sunday morning, Karen McCarron took an overdose of Tylenol.

A grand jury indicted her on two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of obstructing justice and one count of concealment of a homicidal death. McCarron went to trial on January 7, 2008 and after a week long trial, was convicted of first degree murder, obstruction of justice, and concealing a homicidal death on January 17, 2008.

Karen's parents won a lawsuit, against Karen, in December of that year.

News articles and weblogs have emphasized the difficulties in raising a child with autism, and some suggested that McCarron may have been stressed by lack of support and dealing with Katie's autism. Katie's paternal grandfather, Michael McCarron, said:

Some autistic people have rallied in favor of a conviction of McCarron, and Katie's death garnered intense scrutiny within the autism rights movement and among disability advocates. Autism Hub held a memorial on May 24 and the disability rights group Not Dead Yet led the charge to reveal the facts of the case. The local media is responding to advocates who criticize them for sympathic reporting towards alleged perpetrators.

Karen Frank-McCarron appealed her conviction but the appellate court upheld it. In their opinion they gave the following description of the facts:

"FACTS

On June 1, 2006, the State charged the defendant with two counts of first degree murder (720 ILCS 5/9-1(a)(1), (a)(2) (West 2006)), two counts of obstructing justice (720 ILCS 5/31-4(a) (West 2006)), and concealment of a homicidal death (720 ILCS 5/9-3.1(a) (West 2006)). The indictment alleged that the defendant killed her three-year-old daughter, Katie, by holding a plastic bag over Katie's head, and then attempted to conceal the circumstances surrounding Katie's death.

The defendant filed a pretrial motion to suppress two inculpatory statements she made to police within days of Katie's death. The circuit court denied the motion, finding that the defendant was not in custody at the time she first confessed and, therefore, was not entitled to receive warnings pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, 86 S.Ct. 1602 (1966), prior to her first confession.

Evidence and testimony presented at the suppression hearing, and at trial, revealed the following facts. On May 13, 2006, the defendant and her mother, Erna Frank, were at the McCarron house in Morton, Illinois, with the defendant's two daughters, Katie and two-year-old Emily. The defendant was a pathologist and spent an hour at work that morning. When she returned, she fed her daughters. After lunch, the defendant put Emily down for a nap. Rather than put Katie down for a nap as well, the defendant decided to take Katie, who had autism, for a car ride to calm her down. Erna testified that it did not appear as if Katie needed to be calmed down.

The defendant drove Katie to the Frank house, which was near the McCarron house. Given that Erna was at the McCarron house and Erna's husband was in Germany, the defendant knew that no one would be present at the Frank house. The defendant parked inside the garage, closed the garage door, and took Katie inside the house. While inside, the defendant suffocated Katie by placing a white plastic garbage bag over Katie's head.

Approximately 45 minutes to an hour after she left, the defendant returned with Katie to the McCarron house. The defendant carried Katie into the house, told Erna that Katie was sleeping, and carried her upstairs to bed.

The defendant went about her normal activities after she put Katie in bed around 1 p.m. Sometime during the afternoon, the defendant's brother, Walter, came to the McCarron house. The defendant sat in the kitchen with Erna and Walter, who talked to the defendant about a recent trip they took. While the defendant did not talk much, neither Erna nor Walter noticed any irrational behavior or incoherency in the defendant.

At one point, the defendant decided to go to the grocery store to get ice cream. After getting the ice cream, the defendant drove back to the Frank house and retrieved the garbage bag she used to suffocate Katie. The defendant took the bag to a local gas station, where she threw the bag into an outdoor garbage can.

Around 4 p.m., the defendant said she was going to go upstairs to check on Katie, as she normally did not nap that long. The defendant screamed when she went into Katie's room, and told Erna and Walter that Katie was not breathing.

When the police and paramedics arrived, the defendant told a police officer that she found Katie not breathing approximately 21/212 hours after she put Katie down for a nap. The officer described the defendant as coherent and conversational. The defendant and a paramedic attempted unsuccessfully to resuscitate Katie. The paramedic described the defendant as unusually calm for the situation. The defendant was quick to respond to questions and answered in an orderly fashion. Katie was transported to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The Peoria County deputy coroner testified that, when he spoke with the defendant at the hospital, the defendant did not try to embrace Katie and was largely unemotional. Her demeanor was atypical for a parent whose child had just died.

The defendant's husband, Paul, returned to the McCarron house from North Carolina around midnight that night. Paul had moved to North Carolina with Katie approximately 18 to 24 months prior so Katie could attend a school for autistic children. Katie had returned to Illinois around May 3, 2006. Paul was in the process of moving back to Illinois at the time of Katie's death.

When Paul arrived at the house, he and his brother had to break into the master bedroom and bathroom to find the defendant. The defendant had penned a suicide note and had taken numerous Tylenol pills in an apparent suicide attempt. The defendant told Paul she had killed Katie. She also told her mother that she had killed Katie. When the police arrived, Paul told Officer Brent McLean that the defendant had something she wanted to say. After the defendant did not respond, Paul told McLean that the defendant said she had killed Katie. The defendant was transported to the hospital in an ambulance. Her mother and a police officer accompanied her in the ambulance. The officer did not ask the defendant any questions. At no point was the defendant placed in handcuffs or restrained by the police.

Officer McLean asked the defendant some questions at the hospital in the early morning hours of May 14, 2006. The defendant told McLean that she told Paul she had killed Katie and said, “et's leave it at that.” McLean left the room and came back shortly thereafter. McLean asked the defendant where the garbage bag was, but the defendant did not respond. McLean repeated the question, and the defendant said, “I know you want to get evidence on me.” She said she wanted to talk to Paul. McLean left the hospital and did not arrange for any police guard on the defendant's room...."

The entire opinion can be read here: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/il-court-of-appeals/1534031.html