By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
Trial dates have been set for the cases in which two individuals are charged with murder in relation to the 2021 death of a child less than two years of age they are believed to have been babysitting.
Serenity Brown, now 21, and Devin Pierce, now 24, appeared in Barren Circuit Court on Monday for a pretrial conference. Brown’s attorney had been called to an emergency, but it was believed he would arrive later, so Pierce’s was called first and separately.
These cases had been scheduled to go to trial late last month, but those dates were canceled after the defendants decided in February to try mediation to see whether a resolution could be reached and it was determined it couldn’t happen until the week before the trial would have started.
Commonwealth’s Attorney John Gardner informed Circuit Judge John T. Alexander on Monday that the mediation was not successful, so he and the defense attorneys had agreed a new trial date should be set.
Pierce’s attorney, David Broderick, said he believed they would probably need three to four days for the trial, then decided four should be allotted.
Alexander said the first availability for four consecutive days was March 18-21, to which Broderick and Gardner agreed and said that if Brown’s attorney, Ken Garrett, had any conflict they could look at other dates. Gardner had been in touch with Garrett immediately before the proceeding and said Garrett tentatively believed March or April would be OK for him.
A new pretrial conference was scheduled for Sept. 23.
Later, Brown’s case was called, and Gardner said it looked as though Garrett may not be able to arrive as soon as thought, so he didn’t want to keep her waiting for naught. Brown was advised of the dates that had been agreed upon previously and that she should touch base with her attorney.
Also during Pierce’s time at the judge’s bench, Broderick said he had a motion requesting a bond modification for his client that was pending. He said Pierce had been out of jail with an ankle monitor for nine months with no issues, and now Pierce had an opportunity for a job in Portland, Tennessee, so he asked for removal of the monitor.
After brief discussion that included Gardner’s opposition to a change, Alexander said he would allow removal of the monitor with all other bond conditions still in place.
Background
On March 27, 2021, Barren County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call from a residence along North Lucas Road regarding an unresponsive 19-month-old male. The child was transported to T.J. Samson Community Hospital and later pronounced deceased, according to a May 2022 press release from the BCSO, which went on to state that detectives saw “suspicious bruising on the head of the child,” so the body was sent to Louisville for an autopsy at the Office of the State Medical Examiner.
“The results of the autopsy determined the child died from blunt impact injuries of the head, and the manner of death was ruled homicide,” according to the press release.
On May 18, 2022, the case was presented to a Barren County grand jury, which returned an indictment against Pierce and Brown, each with one count of murder, and Marty Brown and Jessica Brown, each with one count of tampering with physical evidence. The sheriff’s office served indictment warrants on the four on May 27, 2022, according to the BCSO press release.
According to the indictment, Pierce and Brown “committed the crime of murder when, manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, he/she wantonly engaged in conduct which created a grave risk of death to T.D.S. and thereby caused the death of T.D.S.”
Nothing more on the child’s identity has been released.
