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Salem mother pleads not guilty to withholding son's cancer treatment

E-mail|Link|Comments () July 6, 2009 12:01 PM

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

SALEM -- A mother stood in handcuffs today and pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and other charges as prosecutors accused her of withholding life-saving cancer treatment from her 9-year-old son before his death from leukemia.

Kristen LaBrie, 37, said little during her arraignment in Salem Superior Court, listening intently and shaking her head in disapproval when a prosecutor outlined the alleged crimes against her autistic son, Jeremy. The indictment by an Essex County grand jury Friday also includes charges of permitting serious bodily injury to a disabled person, child endangerment, and permitting substantial bodily injury to a child.

Defense attorney Kevin James said in court that his client was really a victim because the boy's father, Eric J. Fraser, abandoned his son and left LaBrie to shoulder the burden of care after the diagnosis of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2006.

"She is the victim," James said. "She is the mother who took care of her child."

Essex Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall said in court that Labrie failed for months to provide necessary medication to her son, did not fill his prescriptions, missed doctor appointments, and never bothered to seek help from the staff at Massachusetts General Hospital.

When Labrie had custody of the boy from October 2006 and February 2008, she did not reach out to the hospital team caring for her son, which included a social worker, nurse, and oncologist, MacDougall said.

Jeremy's disease eventually progressed to leukemia. Eric Fraser, his father gained custody of him and put him in hospice, where he died in March. Fraser told reporters today he supports the prosecution of LaBrie.

LaBrie was ordered held today on $15,000 cash bail.