GUILTY KS - Karina Perez, 3 mos, killed with hair dryer, Hutchinson, 23 Feb 2010

[not_my_kids]

I keep wondering where hypothermia is coming from myself. You can't die of hypothermia and heat related injuries at that same time, as far as I know. Hyperthermia, like SuziQ said, would definitely go with heat related injuries.

I wish there were a little more news out on this one.

 

[alsmom]

I wonder why they waited 17 days to arrest her and are giving out such a small amount of info. It's not like they were waiting for a tox screen.

 

[dennall]

I'm thinking the article meant to state hyperthermia which of overheating.

Good, call.....correction in local newspaper
Correction : 3/15/2010
Readers: Please note that due to incorrect information supplied to The News, the child's death has now been changed to resulting from hyperthermia. According to a release from the Reno County District Attorney's office, hyperthermia is an elevated body temperature due to failed thermoregulation. It occurs when the body produces or absorbs more heat than it can dissipate. The opposite of hyperthermia is hypothermia, which occurs when a person’s temperature drops below that required for normal metabolism. Hypothermia is caused by prolonged exposure to low temperatures. There was heat in the apartment where the child died.
-Hutch News online team

 

[kbl8201]

im sure the thermal burns didnt help

 

[dennall]

Either way, Karina was cooked. So much so, when doctors and nurses tried reviving her, Karina’s top layer of skin came off in their hands. There are times when you even have to feel sorry for doctors, and I’ll venture there was more than one angry one that night.

snip

It is hard not to hurt for what Karina must have went through. Wasn’t there crying? Did the suspect believe the tears were from being cold, instead of from the surface of her skin being broiled? It’s possible, I suppose.

http://www.dwightseffort.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=742&Itemid=64

 

[kbl8201]

i didnt want to bring that up cause i felt it was gruesome beyond words.........thermal burns are beyond third degree, that baby suffered alot

 

[dennall]

Very sad, not my choice of words, just what the reporter said. I didn't realize that thermal burns were beyond 3rd degree. Can't imagine what the poor baby went through.

 

[ScorpRising]

Thanks for the update on hyper vs hypo. I thought it was strange that she was hypo and had thermal burns. Poor baby

 

[dennall]

Thanks for the update on hyper vs hypo. I thought it was strange that she was hypo and had thermal burns. Poor baby

Yes, I thought so, too. And the clarification in their local paper also states the apt did have heat. Very sad story.

 

[westsidefox64]

http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/Ks_mother_on_trial_for_hair_dryer_death_128382798.html

A lawyer for 20-year-old Brigit Hippen told jurors in Reno
County District Court on Wednesday that the death of 3-month-old
Karina Perez was a tragic accident. The Hutchinson News reports that prosecutors contend Hippen acted
recklessly by running the dryer near the baby's bassinet and then
falling asleep.

Karina was pronounced dead at a hospital the morning of Feb. 23,
2010. Doctors have said she had a body temperature of 108 degrees

 

[dennall]

A Hutchinson woman’s trial for 2nd degree murder for the death of her 2-month old child got underway Tuesday morning. Briget Hippen is alleged to have placed a blow dryer on a counter near the bassinet the child was sleeping in, this in the bathroom of her northeast Hutchinson apartment.

http://hutchnews.com/Publicsafety/Testimony-begins-in-Hippen-trial--1

 

[Velouria]

So, Mom had a record of arrest for DUI (no big surprise there) and had used the blow dryer to soothe the baby to sleep on previous occasions.

In other words, get the baby to stop crying so Mommy can go sleep one off. :furious: I am beyond disgusted.

 

[dennall]

A mistrial was declared in the trial of a Hutchinson woman accused of killing her 3-month-old child with a hairdryer. Jurors were unable to come to a unanimous decision Friday.

Jurors also deliberated for at least two hours Thursday, the third day of Brigit Hippen's trial.

http://hutchnews.com/Breakingnews/hippenverdict

 

[buffetoflies]

Mistrial means they can have another trial, right?

 

[katydid23]

So the baby's bassinet was in the bathroom?


A Hutchinson woman’s trial for 2nd degree murder for the death of her 2-month old child got underway Tuesday morning. Briget Hippen is alleged to have placed a blow dryer on a counter near the bassinet the child was sleeping in, this in the bathroom of her northeast Hutchinson apartment.

http://hutchnews.com/Publicsafety/Te...ippen-trial--1

 

[LCoastMom]

Mistrial means they can have another trial, right?

Yes, they can. Depending on how the jury is split this is often the time a plea bargain is reached.

In a case I am aware of, a third strike felon had a hung jury of 10 to acquit, two for guilty. He was facing possible life, the state offered him a plea with 10 years which he accepted, rather than risking another jury trial that may not have gone in his favor.

When the majority says guilty the defense may come up with a deal that will cut some time off a possible maximum term and the prosecution may accept to save the state the cost of a retrial.

Of course, depending on the crime and evidence the state sometimes retries the defendant, hitting harder on what they perceive to be weak spots.

 

[LCoastMom]

Mistrial declared in infant hairdryer death case

Nine jurors voted to convict the Hutchinson mother of killing her infant daughter, three voted to acquit her of the charges.

http://articles.kwch.com/2011-08-26/infant-daughter_29925021

That poor baby. I am at a complete loss that anyone could sleep through the torture that baby endured.

 

[justanother]

I'm going to assume she was under the influence of either alcohol or drugs, perhaps both because i cannot imagine being able to sleep through a baby being burned like that. There must have been crying at some point. I feel sick thinking about that little girls last moments alive. Just awful.

 

[Starfish]

I agree with most here, how could anyone sleep through the crying this poor baby girl must have done? If you need a constant noise to lull your baby to sleep, turn on the radio, turn on the TV, one of those wind up toys made for babies that play music, not a hairdryer! Then you go back to bed leaving your baby and the situation unattended?!?! This goes beyond young & stupid!

 

[MorenoI]

I'm going to assume she was under the influence of either alcohol or drugs, perhaps both because i cannot imagine being able to sleep through a baby being burned like that. There must have been crying at some point. I feel sick thinking about that little girls last moments alive. Just awful.

This is what I was thinking. Even with the DUI thing the child was stated to have been in the car with her when she was stopped. To me that shows disregard for this baby's life!

What about the father? How is the world did they both sleep through that. I know when my baby was that age, it didnt matter how tired I was I always heard him crying. JMO