NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — The mother of a five-month-old boy charged with taking him from Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters against doctors’ orders was combative and uncooperative Tuesday morning in court.
The hearing was intended to determine if Stephanie Campbell, 31, was competent to stand trial on a felony charge of child abuse causing serious injury. Police say Campbell took her from CHKD June 30, and the child was receiving life-sustaining care and he couldn’t survive more than two days without it. They found her with the boy shortly afterward at a Chesapeake motel, and returned him to the hospital.
Campbell’s public defender requested restorative services for her at Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg. That’s what an evaluator has recommended.
But Judge Robert Smith said because Campbell did not cooperate with her evaluating psychologist, he could not rely on the report’s conclusions. Instead, he ordered Campbell to undergo outpatient services at the Norfolk Jail. Campbell said she would not cooperate with that, either.
She also wanted a new public defender. But Smith called her attorney, Kristina Davis, “outstanding” and refused to replace her. “I’ve seen outstanding attorneys, and she’s not one of them,” Campbell responded.
At one point, Campbell turned around to the gallery and said “I don’t know why all these people are here. This is none of their business.”
Campbell has previous convictions for felony child abuse and neglect in Portsmouth. Police there said they were called to her home several times for child endangerment. Court documents show in one case, police found her four-year-old son hanging from a balcony. In another, one of her children was found in the river. Smith alluded to those cases, telling Campbell “You’re not new to the criminal system, and you know how to manipulate it.”
“Everyone knows I’m competent,” Campbell said. “I’m not crazy.”
Campbell will undergo another competency evaluation and her next court date is Sept. 12.
