A Vancouver woman facing a first-degree manslaughter charge in the May death of her 5-month-old grandson was exonerated Tuesday of criminal charges.
April Blue Colton, 56, appeared in Clark County Superior Court to be arraigned on the manslaughter charge and a charge of failing to summon assistance. The prosecution, however, decided to throw out the case.
Efforts to reach Deputy Prosecutor Colin Hayes, who was handling the case, were unsuccessful Tuesday afternoon.
Colton’s defense attorney, Jeff Sowder, said in an interview following her hearing that there were several problems with the case. He said an Oregon death certificate stated that the boy’s death was an accident, and an autopsy conducted in Clark County found the boy’s cause of death to be “undetermined.”
At about 12:30 a.m. May 6, Colton fell asleep while holding her grandson on a couch, with the baby on top of her facedown and pressed against her arm, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Superior Court.
The baby’s mother had left him in Colton’s care. Colton’s neighbor had offered to help her care for the infant, so Colton was staying at the neighbor’s residence that night, court records said.
Colton awoke in the neighbor’s apartment to the sound of someone knocking on the door about 12:40 a.m., and realized the baby wasn’t breathing. She then placed the baby facedown in a horseshoe-shaped pillow and covered him with a blanket, the affidavit said. She told detectives that she didn’t know what to do and she was scared, according to court documents.
The resident of the apartment noticed the baby wasn’t breathing at about 1 a.m. and called 911. The infant was taken to an area hospital and pronounced dead the following day, the affidavit said.
Sowder said it’s possible that the prosecuting attorney’s office could file charges at a later date. However, he said he’s unsure of what evidence would change between now and then.
