friend of mine sent me this and I decided if I had to have this horrid shit put in my head others should sufer with the knowlege of it as well so here is my horrible present to you all.....
Suspect in child's beating fights for life support
Stepfather could face murder charges if 11-year-old girl dies
WESTFIELD, Mass. - Photos hanging on Allison Avretts living room wall show her daughter Haleigh as a smiling little girl with brown bangs hanging over her squinting eyes.
Most of the pictures were taken before Avrett gave Haleigh up for adoption five years ago and long before the alleged beating that landed the 11-year-old in a hospital attached to the ventilator and feeding tube that keep her alive.
Now, with Haleighs doctors saying she will never recover from her vegetative state, the child is at the center of a right-to-die legal struggle.
The state Department of Social Services, which has had custody of Haleigh since she was hospitalized Sept. 11, wants to remove her from life support.
Her stepfather, Jason Strickland, who is charged in her beating and could be tried for murder if she dies, wants to keep her alive. Strickland is free on bail while awaiting trial.
A juvenile court judge has ruled that Haleigh should be allowed to die. Strickland has appealed, and the states highest court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case Tuesday.
Avrett, who gave up her parental rights when she let her sister Holli adopt Haleigh in 2000, says her daughter should not suffer anymore.
They say the most she might ever do is open her eyes, said Avrett, a 29-year-old stay-at-home mom with two other children. I dont want her to sit there longer than she needs to.
Police say the injuries that left Haleigh with severe brain stem injuries came at the hands of Strickland and his wife Holli Allison Avretts sister.
Within two weeks of the couple pleading innocent to the beating, Holli Strickland was dead, fatally shot in her grandmothers West Springfield apartment. The body of her 71-year-old grandmother, Constance Young, was beside her. The possible double suicide or murder-suicide is still under investigation.
In a legal brief filed before Tuesdays hearing, Strickland, 31, asks to be declared Haleighs de facto parent. His lawyer, John Egan, insists his client is not motivated by the chance he could be charged with murder if the girl dies.
We should be coming down on the side of life as opposed to death, he said.
In 1998, Avrett moved with Haleigh to Virginia to live with her boyfriend. A few months later, Avrett sent Haleigh back to Massachusetts to spend the summer with Holli and her former husband, Jonathan Poutre.
Within a few weeks of her daughters return to Massachusetts, the Department of Social Services took custody of Haleigh and began investigating allegations she was abused by Avretts boyfriend in Virginia. A DSS spokeswoman refused to comment because of privacy issues.