The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that a mother who spent seven years in prison for injecting her children's father with a chemical used to euthanize animals can have her visitation rights restored.
The woman, identified only as Karen H. in the ruling, injected Robert W. with the chemical shortly after their 2002 divorce. She later pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder.
While she was in prison, a custody arrangement allowed her mother to take the 7- and 5-year-old children for prison visits and for them to speak with their mother over the phone.
In 2009 the father remarried and attempted to terminate Karen's parental plan. In 2010, after Karen was released from prison, a Bradley County Circuit Court judge ruled that the parenting plan should stay.
Robert appealed. The appeals court reversed the trial court's decision and terminated Karen's visitation rights.
The state's top court overruled that decision.
Todd South covers courts, poverty, technology, military and veterans for the Times Free Press. He has worked at the paper since 2008 and previously covered crime and safety in Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia. Todd’s hometown is Dodge City, Kan. He served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps and deployed to Iraq before returning to school for his journalism degree from the University of Georgia. Todd previously worked at the Anniston (Ala.) Star. Contact ...
