06-11-2006, 11:02 PM
By KAREN McDONALD
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
Karen McCarron, the doctor accused of suffocating her young autistic daughter in Morton, is out of jail - for now.
McCarron's mother, Erna Frank, posted the required $100,000 bail to secure her daughter's release from Tazewell County Jail at about 2:30 p.m. Friday. Her defense attorneys and father, Robert Frank, said she needs more mental health treatment than she was getting in jail.
Prosecutors argued during a hearing last month to reduce her bond from $2 million that McCarron, who was born in Germany and has family living in Germany and Argentina, poses a flight risk.
Assistant state's attorney Kirk Schoenbein said McCarron's husband, Paul McCarron, "expressed concern as to the well-being of daughter Emily and the well-being of Karen" if she were released.
Judge J. Peter Ault reduced her bond to $1 million and required she post 10 percent to get out of jail after her defense attorneys said $2 million was excessive and pointed out she had no criminal record.
"We felt there was a flight risk and a risk to herself and hope that now that she has posted bond, that neither of those developments will occur," State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz said.
"I think the conditions the court put into place were what they deemed to be satisfactory to address concerns. I'm optimistic we'll be able to proceed to trial even though she has posted bond."
Now released from jail, McCarron is not allowed to have contact with her 2-year-old daughter, Emily, and is required to wear an electronic monitoring device that will be monitored by the county's probation department.
McCarron, a pathologist, is charged with killing her 3-year-old daughter, Katherine, on May 13. McCarron had been on suicide watch at the jail. After allegedly suffocating Katherine, she attempted to overdose on Tylenol, police said. During a series of taped phone conversations since May 16, Morton police said they did not notice any incoherent or irrational talk that would suggest McCarron was not in an adequate mental state.
It is unknown how the Franks came up with the $100,026.50 bail money. A judge froze all marital assets of McCarron and her husband after he filed for divorce and learned of his wife's plans to sell her business interests in the Peoria Tazewell Pathology Group, where she worked as a pathologist, according to court records.
McCarron is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of obstructing justice and one count of concealment of a homicidal death. If convicted, she faces up to 100 years in prison.
Her next court date is scheduled for June 16.
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
Karen McCarron, the doctor accused of suffocating her young autistic daughter in Morton, is out of jail - for now.
McCarron's mother, Erna Frank, posted the required $100,000 bail to secure her daughter's release from Tazewell County Jail at about 2:30 p.m. Friday. Her defense attorneys and father, Robert Frank, said she needs more mental health treatment than she was getting in jail.
Prosecutors argued during a hearing last month to reduce her bond from $2 million that McCarron, who was born in Germany and has family living in Germany and Argentina, poses a flight risk.
Assistant state's attorney Kirk Schoenbein said McCarron's husband, Paul McCarron, "expressed concern as to the well-being of daughter Emily and the well-being of Karen" if she were released.
Judge J. Peter Ault reduced her bond to $1 million and required she post 10 percent to get out of jail after her defense attorneys said $2 million was excessive and pointed out she had no criminal record.
"We felt there was a flight risk and a risk to herself and hope that now that she has posted bond, that neither of those developments will occur," State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz said.
"I think the conditions the court put into place were what they deemed to be satisfactory to address concerns. I'm optimistic we'll be able to proceed to trial even though she has posted bond."
Now released from jail, McCarron is not allowed to have contact with her 2-year-old daughter, Emily, and is required to wear an electronic monitoring device that will be monitored by the county's probation department.
McCarron, a pathologist, is charged with killing her 3-year-old daughter, Katherine, on May 13. McCarron had been on suicide watch at the jail. After allegedly suffocating Katherine, she attempted to overdose on Tylenol, police said. During a series of taped phone conversations since May 16, Morton police said they did not notice any incoherent or irrational talk that would suggest McCarron was not in an adequate mental state.
It is unknown how the Franks came up with the $100,026.50 bail money. A judge froze all marital assets of McCarron and her husband after he filed for divorce and learned of his wife's plans to sell her business interests in the Peoria Tazewell Pathology Group, where she worked as a pathologist, according to court records.
McCarron is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of obstructing justice and one count of concealment of a homicidal death. If convicted, she faces up to 100 years in prison.
Her next court date is scheduled for June 16.