Guilty plea withdrawn in child scalding case

WARREN — A judge has allowed a Farmdale woman to withdraw her guilty plea to a felony charge of child endangering for allegedly dipping her 14-month-old daughter in scalding bathtub water, which caused severe burns.

Judge John M. Stuard of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court set a trial date of April 6 for Catherine Hall, 21, of

state Route 193, and a pretrial date of March 19.

Hall pleaded guilty to the charge in August but later asked Judge Stuard to rescind the plea and allow her to take a lie-detector test.

Deena DeVico, an assistant county prosecutor, would not comment on whether Hall took the test.

Judge Stuard said DeVico wrote a brief asking that the guilty plea remain in effect and that the judge sentence her on the charge. Judge Stuard said, however, that he would allow Hall to go trial if that is what she wants.

Hall told police she tested the water’s temperature several times before dipping the child into it at the child’s father’s home on Mauro Circle in Niles in May.

Trumbull County Children Services investigated the matter before charges were filed.

Hall is free on a $2,500 bond.

The child’s grandmother, Kelly Hall, said the child was treated at an Akron hospital for burns on her feet and ankles.

Summer’s father, Mitchell Hall, filed for divorce a couple weeks after the incident.