Toxicology reports on Miss. child at odds

Published 5:46 pm Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Whether Hattie Douglas will stand trial on alcohol-related charges in the death of her infant son rests with a new pathology report.

Douglas, 32, was supposed to be tried in Madison County Circuit Court last week, but her case was delayed. She is free on a $50,000 bond.

Authorities said Douglas’ 11-month-old son, Kadarrius, had an alcohol level of 0.4 percent when he died May 11, 2006. An independent pathologist’s report indicates multiple blood alcohol tests came back with conflicting results, with one as low as 0.02 percent.

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District Attorney Michael Guest said his office was waiting on a new report before proceeding with court action.

Pathologists say that for the child to have a 0.4 percent blood-alcohol level, he would have had to ingest 5 ounces to 6 ounces of pure alcohol before his death.

Authorities initially did not treat the death as suspicious but began investigating after the first toxicology tests results were reviewed.

Madison County Coroner Alex Breeland originally certified the death as accidental and the cause was “rollover death/compression of chest.”