batavia

Motions filed in the case of a woman who thought she was the grandmother of a baby who died while in the care of her son seek to have a criminal charge against her dismissed, both because of a lack of evidence and "in the interest of justice."

Jacquelyn P. Deats, Olyn Avenue, Batavia, is charged with acting in a manner injurious to a child under 17 years old.

The charging document asserts, "On December 14, 2014, at about 7:00 a.m., while at 10 Olyn Avenue in the City of Batavia, New York, the Defendant did fail to provide and/or seek medical assistance for Chandler Zuchs dob May 20, 2014, while knowing that Zuck was suffering from serious medical symptoms. All contrary to the provisions of the statements made and provided herein."

There's simply no evidence to support the assertion, argues Attorney Thomas Burns, who is representing Deats.

There's no direct knowledge or witness statements to support the assertion that Deats knew Baby Chandler was suffering from serious medical symptoms at that time and that she had any knowledge that Baby Chandler had been mistreated.

Baby Chandler was in the care of Jeffery Deats, a 28-year-old Batavia man, who believed, based on representations by the baby's mother, Michelle Zuchs, of Tonawanda, that he was the baby's father.

Subsequently, Jeffrey had many visits with Chandler. He posted several pictures of Chandler, and of himself with Chandler to social media sites in the months prior to Chandler's death. The Dec. 13-14 visit was reportedly the first overnight visit.  

After Chandler's death from apparent brain injuries, Jeffrey Deats was arrested. A day after news came out that Jeffrey Deats wasn't the baby's father, Jeffrey Deats attempted to take his own life by hanging himself with a bedsheet in his jail cell.

Jeffrey Deats died as a result of his injuries four days later.

In a statement to police about the events of Dec. 14, Jacquelyn Deats, said she heard Chandler crying off and on throughout the night and that she woke up around 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning because she was thinking about going to church.

A half hour later, she said, she heard Chandler crying loudly, like he was screaming.

"I heard Jeff stomping down the stairs and he was calling, 'mom, mom' several times," Jacquelyn Deats said. "He sounded very upset. I said that I was in the bathroom. When I came out, Jeff was holding Chandler so that Chandler's head was on Jeff's shoulder. Jeff said, 'He's been up all night and I need to sleep.' Jeff was really upset. He laid Chandler on the couch and said, 'Now, you go to sleep you goddamn bastard,' and he turned around and went upstairs."

It would be another two-and-half hours before Jacquelyn Deats called for an ambulance, according to statements to police, which were made public when Jeffrey Deats was arrested.

Even if Judge Robert Balbick, the City Court judge who will be asked to rule on the motions, doesn't dismiss the charge for lack of evidence, he should do so "in the interest of justice," Burns argues.

"In the interest of justice" is a well-established motion in the legal system and has a series of criteria that should be met before a judge agrees to dismiss the case.

In order to establish the criteria, Burns argues:

• That Jacquelyn Deats has no prior criminal history, has no history of drug or alcohol abuse, no mental health issues and is gainfully employed;
• While the death of a baby is a serious criminal matter, there's no evidence Jacquelyn Deats was involved in Baby Chandler's death; "However, the charge as filed seeks to hold the Defendant accountable for her conduct after the injury already occurred to the child." Deats, Burns writes, "neither witnessed nor had knowledge" that the injuries occurred;
• The evidence doesn't support an assertion that Jacquelyn Deats caused harm to the child, and even if she had knowledge of a serious injury and did not act, there's no evidence that any action should could have taken would have changed the outcome;
• Jacquelyn Deats has suffered significant trauma as a result of these events, from the death of a child at the time she believed to be her grandchild, the death of her own child, and learning that Baby Chandler was not her son's son; "She has endured a substantial amount of stress and hurt and expressed deep regret for the death of the child and the tragic loss of her son Jeffrey";
• Because Jacquelyn Deats has no drug or alcohol issues, a conviction is not necessary to effect rehabilitation;
• The charge against her is only a misdemeanor, which for a person with no criminal record is not likely to result in any length of jail term;
• Jacquelyn Deats is no threat to the community and dismissal would ensure she remains a contributing member of the community;
• A conviction would serve no useful purpose; "This case also represents a series of poor choices and lack of judgement on the part of the deceased son of the Defendant, the mother of the deceased child and the Defendant now standing before the court," Burns writes. "There are simply no winners and losers in this case. No conviction will change these horrible facts. However, it is submitted that continued prosecution of Jacquelyn Deats will serve only to add to the layers of tragedy already existing with no legitimate purpose."

The prosecution has not yet filed its answer. Balbick will consider the motions at a later date.

A two-car accident, unknown injuries, is reported on the westbound Thruway at mile marker 385. One vehicle is "in the trees on the east side of the raodway," the other is in the median. Town of Batavia fire and Mercy medics are responding.

One of three men who has already admitted his role in a series of construction site burglaries in Genesee County will serve one to three years in prison, Judge Robert C. Noonan ruled this morning.

Michael Correia, 58, of Syracuse, admitted to third-degree burglary on Dec. 16, and while his sentencing in County Court concludes his case, his alleged accomplices continue to maintain their innocence.

Noonan will hear motions in the cases against Syracuse residents William Kelly, 44, and Robert Kelly, 43, on April 30.

All three were charged with burglary after an alert deputy in Wayne County spotted what he thought might be stolen property in a vehicle during a traffic stop.

The three men are accused of breaking into a Kutter's Cheese building, and stealing items from a residential construction site on East Main Street, Batavia, sometime during the early morning of Aug. 27.

They were allegedly found with more than $3,000 in material, including brass plumbing components and copper wire.

Robin Zanderwers from the Buffalo Zoo shows off a turtle to students at Jackson School on Thursday evening during an event dubbed "Wild About Reading."  

A two-car accident is reported at Vine Street and Evergreen Drive. No injuries. City fire on scene. Mercy medics arrived, then cleared the scene.

UPDATE 12:03 p.m.: The driver of one of the vehicle is complaining of chest pains after leaving the accident scene. Mercy medics are en route to a location on Ross Street to assist him.

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Gerald Jacob Farrell, 21, of Southeast 170th Street, Weirsdale, Fla., was arrested on a warrant stemming from a third-degree criminal mischief charge. Farrell turned himself in, was arraigned in City Court and jailed without bail.

Erica M. Raphael, 30, of Oak Orchard Road, Batavia, was arrested on a warrant for alleged failure to appear on a petit larceny charge. Raphael turned herself in and was released on her own recognizance.

Alex Patrick Brasky, 24, of Clifton Avenue, Batavia, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and speeding. Brasky was stopped at 5:01 p.m. Wednesday on Route 33, Stafford, by Deputy Chad Minuto and allegedly found in possession of marijuana and a glass smoking pipe with marijuana residue.

Press release:

No one has yet claimed a wedding ring found amid money collected during the City of Batavia Fire Department fill the boot drive August 14, 2009 benefiting Muscular Dystrophy Association.

The ring, inscribed to "Robin," can be claimed by calling City fire headquarters at (585) 345-6375 or contacting Adam Palumbo at apalumbo@batavianewyork.com.

Taken this evening at the Tonawanda spillway behind the County Courthouse.

There are four people who applied for the opening on the City Court bench and all four will be interviewed by the City Council tonight Monday, according to Council President Brooks Hawley.

The council will meet in executive session for the series of interviews.

Hawley said these four are the only candidates and no other city business will be conducted at that meeting.

The names of the candidates have not been released.

The city is looking for a candidate to assume the opening in City Court following the retirement from the job of Michael Del Plato.

Del Plato will concentrate his time on his private law practice.

CORRECTION: We originally said the meeting is tonight. It's Monday.

Amy E. D'Amico, 25, of Osterhout Avenue, Batavia, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .18 or greater, leaving the scene of a property damage accident and following too closely. D'Amico was arrested by Officer Matthew Wojtaszczyk following a report of an accident on East Main Street, Batavia, at 11:05 p.m. on March 5.

Emily J. Smart, 32, of Akron, is charged with petit larceny. Smart is accused of stealing merchandise valued at $93 from Walmart.

Norman S. Malkimos-Gonzalez, 28, of Liberty Street, Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Malkimos-Gonzalez is accused of shoving a person during an argument. He was jailed on $750 bail.

Tiffany A. Reed, 20, of South Main Street, Batavia, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Reed was arrested by Batavia PD after she was allegedly found in possession of marijuana during a home visit by probation officers.

Ronald J. Murray Jr., 20, of Wood Street, Batavia, was arrested on a warrant. Murray was arrested by State Police and turned over to Batavia PD. He was jailed on $1,000 bail.

Ronald Allan Roberson, 61, of Norwood Lane, Orchard Park, is charged with possession of more than 400 untaxed cigarettes and speeding. Roberson was stopped at 10:40 a.m. Monday on Route 77 by Deputy Patrick Reeves.

Press release:

The Crossroads House has received a $2,500 donation from Genesee County’s Harkins Dairy Farm and America’s Farmers Grow Communities, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund. The donation will help the organization cover operational costs.

The mission of the house is to make the final days of their residents as comfortable, respectful and dignified as possible. Crossroads House is a two-bed comfort care home that provides 24-hour care to residents in the county who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and who have three months or less to live.

“Our organizational motto is ‘a gift to the community made possible by the community,’ ” said Director Jeff Allen. “Family farms such as the Harkins Dairy are integral community partners. When the community gives, it allows us to give back through our services.”

For five years, America’s Farmers Grow Communities has collaborated with farmers to donate more than $16.5 million to more than 7,300 community organizations across rural America. This year winning farmers will direct another $3.3 million to nonprofits to help fight rural hunger, purchase life-saving fire and EMS equipment, support ag youth leadership programs, buy much needed classroom resources, and so much more.

America’s Farmers Grow Communities is part of the America’s Farmers initiative. Since 2010, the America’s Farmers campaign and programs have advocated on behalf of farmers and their efforts to meet society’s needs through agriculture. Today, consumers are more interested than ever in agriculture and how food is grown. Consider joining the conversation and helping to raise awareness about agriculture. Learn more at FoodDialogues.com.

A sister program in the America’s Farmers effort, Grow Rural Education, is currently in its farmer nomination phase. Farmers interested in supporting math and science education in their communities should visit www.GrowRuralEducation.com from now through April 1 to learn how.

Photo: Jenny Harkins (winning farmer), Nate Holt (Monsanto Rep), Jeff Allen (Crossroads House, executive director) and Helen Whaley (Crossroads House volunteer).

Press release:

The Batavia Ramparts have placed all three of their Tier III Travel hockey teams in the New York State Championship ship tournament being held March 13th-15th in Amherst. This is a historical event for the 36-year-old organization.

Batavia’s PeeWee (12U), Bantam (14U) and Midget (16U) teams have all qualified as the first seeds for this event. PeeWee coach Jeff Bower, Bantam coach Mike Reich, and Midget coach Marc Staley have worked their teams hard this season and given their teams the tools they needed to succeed.

The Midget and Bantam teams finished their seasons in first place in League play with records of 12-1-1 for Midget, and Bantam 19-1-1. Although the PeeWee’s finished 3rd in League play with a record of 11-4-1 they qualified first for the state tournament by losing only one of their qualifying games.

The Ramparts Hockey organization has only two state titles since its inception, and has never placed three teams in the tournament, let alone three first seeds. Coaches, parents and the Batavia Ramparts organization are proud of their tremendous accomplishments. Thanks also to our team sponsors, Reed Eye Associates -- PeeWee III, Castilone Chrysler Dodge Jeep -- Bantam III, and Logo It -- Midget III.

Task force members have been asked to consider five options for the future headquarters of the Batavia Police Department. At Tuesday's meeting, none of those sites appeared to be entirely satisfactory and members asked consultants to give them data on two more locations.

Committee members are interested in taking a closer look at potential locations in the parking lot between Bank Street and City Centre and at the former Wiard Plow factory location on Swan Street.

A chief advantage of both locations is they are outside the floodplain, which means construction costs could be at least $1 million cheaper, and perhaps $1.5 million cheaper.

The discussion of the alternate locations arose after consultants went through a spreadsheet of potential costs of the original five options.

The five options and their potential costs:

• 56 Ellicott St. -- $11,380,844
• 96-98 Jackson St. -- $11,877,839
• 26 Evans St. -- $11,710,712
• 165 Park Road (co-located with the Sheriff's Office) -- $10,095,565
• Current location remodelled, option 1 -- $16,358,596
• Current location, remodelled, option 2 -- $11,622,954

Among the biggest variables in cost are associated with elevating locations within the floodplain (the top three locations) and mitigating for potential flooding.

The first two locations have higher costs associated with environmental testing, too.

City Manager Jason Molino also presented the committee with information on potential grants and an overview of debt service and municipal bonds.

If the city took on debt for $11 million, the debt service over a 30-year term would be $600,000, which is within the city's current debt load capacity.

The city is building a capital reserve fund to help pay for projects such as this, and with the pursuit of financing at least two years away, the amount of cash on hand to help pay for the building will likely increase, reducing the amount of money that would need to be borrowed.

The city could reduce the amount paid in the early years of the financing agreement to as little as $100,000 annually through the use of what's known as bond anticipation notes. These interest-only notes can last as much as five years in lieu of issuing municipal bonds.  

BANs would be helpful while the city pays down existing bonds before taking on a heavier debt.

Reducing debt and growing the capital reserve would help reduce the amount of bonds the city would need to sell in order to fully finance the project.

Committee member Marc Staley noted that a growing local economy would also help make a project like this easier for the city to handle financially and expressed some frustration with obstructionists who attempt to block the city's growth efforts.

"'The whole thing gets a lot more tenable with sales tax growth or growth in property assessments, but the whole thing gets swatted down by some," Staley said. "Like Jason said, you can't cut your way to prosperity. You can't develop a community unless you have a viable economic environment. It goes hand-in-hand with what we're trying to do."

The amount the city needs to finance could also be reduced by state and federal grants.

There's up to $1 million in potential grants available for projects such as this and Molino said further research may yield other grant opportunities.

The grants are competitive, which is why there is no guarantee the city will receive one for the project.

Among the advantages of the Alva Place and Swan Street alternate locations are they can include basements, which would help reduce costs and allow for some police functions to be more secure.

Chief Shawn Heubusch expressed some concern about the traffic volume on Bank Street if the location was in the City Centre parking lot, which would also reduce available parking in the area.

There was some talk of placing the building where a potential intersection of an extended Jackson Street could meet Alva Place. (Extending Jackson Street to the north has been proposed previously in other economic development discussions.)

Swan Street would provide patrols with easy access to both Ellicott Street and Main Street though the location would lack the public visibility of the other proposed locations. The three-acre parcel would provide the department plenty of room for potential expansion if the city grows, however. 

The project consultants will work up a cost analysis for each location and present it to the committee at its meeting next month.

The committee is supposed to have its recommendation ready by July 1, but some committee members expressed concern there is still a lot of work to do. There may be a request later to extend the deadline.

Baby Jonah was diagnosed with a brain tumor in January. The 13-week-old started chemotherapy last month to shrink his tumor, but so far the treatment has been unsuccessful. He needs a shunt to relieve intercranial pressure and doctors need to do a brain biopsy to assess his condition and insure his medications are appropriate.

To help offset expenses, his family and friends are going to hold a benefit at the Falleti Ice Arena in Batavia starting at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 15.

At "Skate for Jonah" there will be activities for everyone; bring the whole family. Cost is a $10 donation for ice time and skate rental. Pizza and refreshments will be available for purchase.

The Buffalo Sabres Hockey Team donated goods autographed to be raffled: a Gionta jersey, Foligno mask, and helmet.

The plan is for Jonah to continue receiving chemo every week for a year. The tumor is located behind his eyes and has caused nystagmus or involuntary eye movement. Despite everything this little man has gone through, he continues to smile, coo, laugh and snuggle with those who dote on him.

The ice arena is located at 22 Evans St.

If you'd like to help out and aren't able to attend the skating event, you can donate online at: http://www.gofundme.com/nxt1yc