KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A jury found Jonetta Woods and her ex-boyfriend, Fred Glespie, guilty of child neglect.
It’s a civil case, not criminal. Neither will serve any time.
After two days of testimony, jurors sorted through the testimony of nine witnesses.
The Kalamazoo fire marshal took the stand on the first day along with an office manager at Interfaith Homes. Two people who testified repeated Woods side of the story.
Everyone agreed, as police reported, four children were left alone in woods’ apartment at interfaith homes. A fire started, and three of her four kids died.
Woods insists she asked her then-boyfriend, Glespie, to watch her young children before she walked to another nearby apartment.
She said he agreed to. He said she didn’t ask him to do anything.
“Yea, I asked him and he said yea he’ll babysit,” Woods said on the stand to the prosecutor.
“Have you asked him to babysit on other occasions?” the prosecutor asked in return. Woods replied, “Yes I have.”
On the stand, Glespie said, “She never said… ‘Can you watch the kids’? She never said that.”
Glespie’s attorney replied, “Have you watched the kids before? And would you have watched the kids?”
Glespie said, “If she told me to watch them, she know that I would.”
His attorney replied, “But that day she didn’t say anything?”
Glespie said, “She didn’t say nothing like that. I guess she was assuming.”
Five year old Dreyana O’Day, Woods’ surviving daughter, is now a temporary ward of the court.
She will continue to live with her aunt and Woods will be allowed supervised visitation. Woods is also being required to undergo a psychiatric evaluation and counseling.
Glespie won’t face any penalty following the verdict of this civil case.
