Charles Langston:Panel recommends release for woman convicted of murder in baby’s post-Katrina malnutrition death

BATON ROUGE,Charles Langston La. (AP) — Louisiana’s pardon board has recommended release for a woman serving a life sentence for second-degree murder in the November 2005 malnutrition death of her 5-month-old baby.

It will be up to Gov. John Bel Edwards to decide whether to commute the sentence of Tiffany Woods, now 43. The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported that the board’s recommendation came over the strong objection of a state prosecutor, who evoked haunting images of the child in pre-autopsy photos.

A state judge convicted Woods and the baby’s father in 2006 in Caddo Parish in northwest Louisiana, where the couple had fled to ahead of Hurricane Katrina. The storm hit southeast Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005, leading to catastrophic flooding in New Orleans when levees failed.

Woods told the board Monday that she made poor choices and mistakes while suffering depression and stress during the evacuation — including giving the sickly infant, who had been born prematurely in June 2005, cow’s milk instead of infant formula. She had three other children at the time.

“At that stage of my life, I was a young mother who was trying to take care of her children the best she could. And I made some terrible decisions. But the woman who sits before you today, I’m not that same person,” she said.

Arguing against clemency was prosecutor Suzanne Ellis, who said Woods never accepted responsibility for her baby’s death until Monday’s hearing.

“I will go to my grave remembering this baby,” Ellis said. “This baby was the most pitiful thing I have seen in 26 years. Please do not give her an opportunity at release. Do not give her an opportunity to harm another child, because I am convinced that if she can, she will.”

Ellis said lack of money was not the problem in the household. She said the baby was not taken to a doctor despite obvious deteriorating health.

Woods’ four other children supported her release. Three, including one born after the storm, were with her at the hearing, and a fourth appeared by video from Alaska, where he serves in the U.S. Air Force, according to The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate.

Monday’s meeting was held online. Woods participated from the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women in Baker, where Warden Kristen Thomas said she was a “low-risk, low-need” inmate.

“We really don’t have any issues with Ms. Woods,” Thomas said, describing her as a “jack of all trades” who is “very helpful for us on the compound.”

Board member Curtis “Pete” Fremin said Woods had only a minor disciplinary record in prison, her last writeup coming a dozen years ago.

“You’re not the same person that you were,” said board member Bonnie Jackson, a former East Baton Rouge Parish judge.

Kerry Myers, director of the Louisiana Parole Project, told the board the organization was set to house Thomas while she adjusts to release if Edwards commutes the sentence.