The agony that must have accompanied the final hours of Diane “Princess” Ramirez’s short life clearly haunted the prosecutors.
After a judge tossed out the second-degree murder charge against Michelle Morris Kerin — foster mother to the severely disabled who refused to call 911 to get the child help, despite express instructions to do so — Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Maureen DuMouchel promised to gather more evidence and refile charges.
On Thursday, Dec. 7, prosecutors made good on that promise and upped the ante considerably.
A criminal grand jury indicted Morris Kerin once again, this time on 15 felony counts including second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, willful child cruelty, willful cruelty to dependent adults likely to cause great bodily injury or death, and lewd or lascivious acts with dependent adults by a caretaker, “with the intent of arousing, appealing to, and gratifying the lust, passions, and sexual desires of the said defendant and the said dependent person,” the indictment states.
This time, her husband, Lawrence Kerin, was charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter along with her. Lawrence Kerin now faces nine felonies, including willful child cruelty, willful cruelty to dependent adults and lewd or lascivious acts with dependent adults by a caretaker, also “with the intent of arousing, appealing to, and gratifying the lust, passions, and sexual desires of the said defendant and the said dependent person.”
Both pleaded not guilty. Public Defender Brian Cosgrove declined further comment.
Was it murder?
Morris-Kerin had been on the radar of officials for years, beginning in Orange County in the 1990s, shortly after she opened her foster home for severely disabled children.
Officials asserted that Morris-Kerin suffered from Munchausen by proxy, a behavior disorder in which caretakers exaggerate children’s health problems and subject them to unnecessary or inappropriate medical…
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