A local woman faces a felony charge after a Carter County Grand Jury indicted her in connection with a case of child abuse or neglect.
Officers of the Carter County Sheriff’s Office arrested Elizabeth Pleasant, 26, of 1532 Southside Road, Elizabethton, on Thursday on an indictment charging her with aggravated child abuse/neglect.
According to the indictment, Pleasant “did knowingly abuse or neglect (a child) so as to adversely affect the child’s health and welfare and said course of conduct resulted in serious bodily injury to the child.” The child was approximately 3 months old at the time of the injury, which happened in October 2015 according to the indictment.
CCSO Chief Investigator Randy Bowers presented the case to the Grand Jury on July 5 and members of the Grand Jury handed down the indictment against Pleasant on that same day.
The charges against Pleasant were brought under a section of the Tennessee Code Annotated known as “Haley’s Law,” which deals with aggravated child abuse, aggravated child neglect or aggravated child endangerment cases that meet a specific set of circumstances.
A person can be charged under Haley’s Law if they commit the offense of child abuse, child neglect or child endangerment as defined by state law and one of the following additional conditions applies to the case: (1) the act of abuse, neglect or endangerment results in serious bodily injury to the child; (2) A deadly weapon, dangerous instrumentality, controlled substance or controlled substance analogue is used to accomplish the act of abuse, neglect or endangerment; (3) The act of abuse, neglect or endangerment was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, or involved the infliction of torture to the victim; or (4) The act of abuse, neglect or endangerment results from the knowing exposure of a child to the initiation of a process intended to result in the manufacture of methamphetamine as described in (state law).
A charge of aggravated child abuse, aggravated child neglect or aggravated child endangerment brought under Haley’s Law is typically classified as a “Class B” felony, but Haley’s Law gives a provision that if the abused, neglect or endangered child is eight years of age or less, or is vulnerable due to a physical or mental disability, the charge is upgraded to a “Class A” felony.
The charge against Pleasant is classified as a “Class A” felony according to the indictment, but the indictment does not give any details as to which of the additional conditions existed to prosecute the case under Haley’s Law.
Pleasant remains held at the Carter County Detention Center under a $50,000 bond. She is scheduled to make her first appearance in Carter County Criminal Court on Sept. 15 before Judge Lisa Rice.