MAHONING COUNTY Judge gives woman prison in boy's death

The woman had grown addicted to the pills and was buying them on the street, her attorney said.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mary Ann Barnett kept a secret hidden in a baby-wipes box. When her secret was discovered, her infant grandson put it in his mouth, swallowed it and died.
Now the 46-year-old grandmother is going to prison.
"You knew you had a [drug] problem, but you didn't seek help," Judge James C. Evans told Barnett on Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. "You became careless."
He sentenced Barnett to four years in prison for involuntary manslaughter, to which she had pleaded guilty in July. She also was sentenced to one year for each of two counts of drug possession, but those sentences will be concurrent with the four-year term.
What happened
Barnett was watching her 15-month-old grandson, Justin W. Hoschar, in December 2001 when the boy found some of her OxyContin pills and ingested between nine and 13 of them. He died after being in a coma for three days.
Defense attorney Anthony P. Meranto said Barnett had been prescribed OxyContin after a shoulder injury earlier that year. She became addicted to the powerful painkiller and eventually started buying it illegally on the streets, he said.
Barnett hid her addiction from family members, and hid her illegally purchased pills in an empty plastic box of disposable baby wipes, Meranto said.
One of her grandchildren got the box off the shelf where she kept it, and Justin ingested the pills. The death was ruled accidental.
Justin and his sister, who was then 21/2, were living with Barnett at the time. Barnett's daughter is the children's mother.
Police said Barnett appeared to be under the influence of drugs when they arrived at the house, but Meranto said she had been beaten up by family members upset over what happened.
Judge Evans said an autopsy revealed that besides the pills, the baby had ingested a piece of candy with the wrapper still on it.
"Nobody was paying attention to this child," the judge said.
Grandmother's words
Barnett said she loved her grandchildren and would not have hurt them intentionally.
"Whether I go to prison or not, it's going to always be with me that Justin is gone," she said. Barnett sobbed and held her hands clasped in front of her as she spoke to the judge.
The baby's parents were in the courtroom but did not speak. Karen Catone, Justin's paternal grandmother, read a statement in which the parents said they wanted Barnett to receive the maximum possible sentence of seven years.
"Justin's life was over before it started," the statement said. "He will never be anything but a memory."
Barnett's husband, Ken, and three of her closest neighbors and friends spoke on her behalf during the hearing. Steve Varmega said the press has unfairly painted Barnett as a monster.
"I'm here to tell you that she's not a monster," Meranto said, adding that he believes the press sensationalized the case. "This was a very, very tragic accident."
Meranto said Barnett did not deserve prison and asked that she be placed on probation. Assistant prosecutor Jeffrey Limbian said the prosecutor's office did not make a sentencing recommendation as part of the agreement in exchange for Barnett's plea of guilty.
bjackson@vindy.com