On Aug. 21, a Louisiana pardon board vouched for the release of 43-year-old Tiffany Woods, a woman serving a life sentence for the malnutrition death of her 5-month-old son, Emmanuel.
According to the Associated Press, during Monday’s meeting, the board voted unanimously to free Woods, who had been serving nearly 17 years behind bars for feeding her infant son cow’s milk during Hurricane Katrina, the massive storm that led to catastrophic flooding and displacement across New Orleans in 2005.
Woods had just given birth to baby Emmanuel prematurely in June 2005, a few months before Hurricane Katrina made landfall. When news of the storm began to circulate in August, Woods, who was 25 at the time, fled to Caddo Parish in northwest Louisiana to brave out the hurricane with her newborn son and the child’s father, Emmanuel Scott.
According to People, the baby, who weighed a little over 3 lbs at birth, was diagnosed with a genetic condition, but Woods wasn’t made aware of the severity of the baby’s health before she was discharged. During Monday’s trial, Woods, who has three other children, said she made terrible decisions about baby Emmanuel’s nutrition during Katrina because of depression and fear.
Baby Emmanuel had trouble drinking his formula shortly after the category 5 hurricane hit Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005.
“The formula he was taking, he wasn’t swallowing. He was always throwing it up, and then we ran out of WIC (food) vouchers, so I decided to switch it … I switched it to organic milk,” the mother of three told the parole board Monday, People noted. “I thought he was doing better, but he wasn’t thriving.”
The 43-year-old added, “My family wasn’t around me. I didn’t know whether they was alive or not. And I made poor choices and my son lost his life because of me.”
Woods’ son died in November 2005 of malnutrition. A year later, the young mother and Scott were both charged with second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Now, Gov. John Bel Edwards will decide whether to grant the matriarch clemency, but he faces strong opposition from state prosecutor, Suzanne Ellis.
On Monday, Ellis pleaded with the board to keep Woods locked up behind bars for the young infant’s death. According to the Associated Press, the state prosecutor showed the board harrowing images of the young infant’s condition in pre-autopsy photos during Monday’s meeting.
“I will go to my grave remembering this baby,” Ellis said. “This baby was the most pitiful thing I have seen in 26 years. Please do not give her an opportunity at release. Do not give her an opportunity to harm another child, because I am convinced that if she can, she will.”
Ellis argued that the young mother willfully allowed her son’s health to deteriorate and failed to seek medical help.
According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention feeding an infant cow’s milk before they are 12 months old can put a child at risk for intestinal bleeding. Cow’s milk also has too many proteins and minerals for a baby’s kidneys to break down and does not provide the right amount of nutrients for a growing baby.
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