Aug 9 - Doctor pleads not guilty in starvation case

By Lou Grieco

Staff Report

DAYTON —

A Trotwood doctor, charged in the starvation [rip] of a severely handicapped 14-year-old girl, made her first court appearance Wednesday, where a judge entered a not guilty plea upon her behalf.

Margaret Edwards is charged with three counts of failing to report abuse or neglect in the [rip] of Makayla Norman. All three counts are first-degree misdemeanors, punishable by up to six months in a county jail.

Edwards, 50, appeared before Montgomery County Juvenile Judge Nick Kuntz. Edwards did not have an attorney with her Wednesday, but told Kuntz she could afford one and would obtain one.

Kuntz set Edwards’ next hearing for Aug. 28. Edwards declined comment after the brief hearing.

Edwards was Makayla’s doctor from July 2010 until the child’s [rip] on March 1, 2011. Edwards treated her in July and October of 2010 - the last five months before the teen’s [rip]. She is one of five people charged in Makayla’s [rip].

Edwards was required by law to report abuse and neglect, according to prosecutors. Makayla weighed 28 pounds at her [rip], her body covered with filth and open bedsores, her hair and eyebrows infested with lice, her diaper and colon filled with feces. Stricken with cerebral palsy, Makayla could neither speak, move, nor feed herself.

Makayla’s mother, Angela Norman, was sentenced May 17 to nine years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and child endangering.

Makayla’s main nurse, Mollie E. Parsons, faces some of the same charges, including involuntary manslaughter, as Angela Norman and will go on trial Aug. 17. Two other nurses who were to oversee Makayla’s care, Kathryn Williams, 42, of Englewood and Mary K. Kilby, 63, of Miamisburg, are also awaiting trial.

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