Defense suppression motion denied – toddlers mom’s trial looming

A later mug shot of Tabitha Zimmerman – Zimmerman who is free on bond was in the courtroom for Monday’s hearing. Courtesy Photo RSW Regional Jail

On Monday, March 25, Judge Clifford L. Athey Jr. denied a defense motion to suppress the confession of Tabitha Rose Zimmerman to neglectful complicity in the death of her 22-month-old son Malachi, and the non-fatal abuse of Malachi’s twin brother Micah on November 8, 2017.

Zimmerman was at work on the night shift at Rubbermaid when informed by then-fiancé Chad Ritchie by phone the night of Malachi’s death that there was a physical problem with her children. Zimmerman has been charged on two counts of cruelty and injuries to children revolving around what prosecutors contend was a willful neglect of signs of a pattern of abuse of her children by her former fiancé Chad Ritchie.

Athey ruled that despite the lengthy time Zimmerman was held in custody without charges before her confession that it had been given voluntarily. Defense counsel John Bell had argued that his client’s lengthy detention, over 13 hours in the immediate wake of her son’s death at the hands of Ritchie while she was at work, led to a confession obtained under emotional duress.

In Tabitha Rose Zimmerman’s initial RSW Jail mugshot she is wearing the sort of protective vest sometimes indicative of inmates who have tried to harm themselves. Courtesy Photo RSW Regional Jail

The judge also ruled that Zimmerman’s lengthy detention without charges was not illegal. Athey noted law enforcement’s explanation that while holding Zimmerman for questioning, they were also examining the crime scene and obtaining information on the circumstances leading to Malachi’s death and Micah’s hospitalization.

On Friday, March 22, Athey sentenced Ritchie to serve 20 years of a 55-year sentence in the death and abuse of the twin brothers. Ritchie entered an Alford guilty plea on the second day of his December 2018 trial. In an Alford plea a defendant admits the prosecution has the evidence to convict, while not admitting guilt. See Related Story:

Ritchie will serve 20 years in death and injuries inflicted to toddler twins

At what is projected to be a three-day trial beginning April 8, Bell will argue, as Ritchie’s counsel did at his trial and sentencing hearing, that older bruising on the children was a result of falling and an active lifestyle, rather than an indication of a long-term pattern of abuse. Ritchie defense attorney Jason Ransom described his client’s actions of November 8, 2017, as one terrible lapse of anger management leading to an uncharacteristic outburst of physical violence against children he loved and hoped to eventually adopt.

Chad Ritchie’s RSW mug shot at the time of his November 2017 arrest. Courtesy Photo RSW Regional Jail

Ritchie’s defense contention was that Malachi’s death was caused by incorrectly administered CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation) by a panicking large man on a small child, rather than the earlier striking of Malachi in the head and stomach that Ritchie admitted to while watching the twins on November 8, 2017.

Malachi’s cause of death was determined to be cardiac arrest brought on by internal bleeding from a ruptured intestine that flooded the child’s stomach cavity. See Related Story:

Toddler death defense – ‘a horrific accident’ – prosecution ‘Really?’