Prosecutor: Mother of child in overdose death driven by money

Pacing in front of the jury box, where 16 men and women listened intently, Frank J. Middleton Jr. said that, a few days before Rebecca Riley, 4, died of an alleged overdose of psychiatric drugs, her mother, Carolyn Riley, ignored the fact that the child was vomiting, coughing, and flush with fever. Instead of taking her to the doctor, she took her to the Social Security office to argue over benefits.

"The defendant took Rebecca Riley to Social Security," Middletown said during opening statements this morning. "She wanted to make sure she got her money."

But defense attorney Victoria Bonilla told jurors that Rebecca's mother, 35, was a loving parent who had no idea that, on the morning of Dec. 13, 2006, her daughter's condition would spiral out of control. The mother, Bonilla said, had gone to the store to buy her daughter's over-the-counter medicine for her fever and cough, thinking the girl's symptoms were simply part of the routine viruses of childhood.

"She did everything she could do to treat her child," Bonilla said. "She thought Rebecca Riley had a cold."

Bonilla said the mother took Rebecca to a psychiatrist for legitimate behavioral and psychological reasons, and only gave her medication prescribed by the doctor.

The case before Plymouth County Judge Charles Hely is expected to last about three weeks. Rebecca's father, Michael Riley, will be tried separately. The case is scheduled to resume this afternoon with testimony from police officers who arrived at the scene of the family's home to find the girl's lifeless body lying next to her parent's bed.