Mother pleads innocent to killing son

YOUNGSTOWN -- Trial is set for June 9 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for an Austintown woman accused of killing her young son last fall.
Jennifer Wolfe, 21, of Compass West pleaded innocent at her arraignment Monday on a charge of aggravated murder. Judge R. Scott Krichbaum set her bond at $250,000.
Moments later, Wolfe sat alone, handcuffed and crying in a room just down the hall from the courtroom.
A county grand jury secretly indicted Wolfe last week after a monthslong investigation into the death of her 2-year-old son, Jesse Wolfe, in October 2003.
The boy was found not breathing in his mother's Compass West apartment about 7:35 p.m. Oct. 22. He was pronounced dead at Forum Health Northside Medical Center. Coroner's investigators said it appears the boy was asphyxiated and ruled his death a homicide.
Wolfe said in court that she has no money with which to hire a lawyer to defend her. She told Judge Krichbaum that she does not own a house or a car that she could sell for money to pay a lawyer, and that she has no bank accounts or any other money available.
The judge ruled that Wolfe is indigent and appointed Atty. Dennis DiMartino to represent her. The case was assigned to Judge Maureen A. Cronin, who will preside over future proceedings.