Woman enters not guilty plea in death of baby son

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Tayshea Aiwohi today entered a not-guilty plea to a charge of reckless manslaughter in the death of her two-day-old child in 2001, in a case her defense attorney called "perverse, counterproductive" and "mean-spirited."

City Deputy Prosecutor Glenn Kim, who is handling the case against Aiwohi, said today he had no comment on the case.

"I'll see him at trial," he said, in response to Aiwohi's lawyer's comments.

Aiwohi, whose trial date was tentatively set for Dec. 15, is accused of using crystal methamphetamine during the last days of her pregnancy. Her son, Treyson, was born July 15, 2001, and died two days later, shortly after the mother and son were released from Kaiser Medical Center.

Medical officials said he had methamphetamine in his body, and a deputy medical examiner said the dangerously high levels of the drug killed him. Prosecutors charged her with reckless manslaughter in the case.

More than a dozen family members clustered around her in the courtroom, filling half the seats.

Deputy Public Defender Todd Eddins called the prosecution of Aiwohi illegal under state and federal law.

"Tayshea has five children who are lovingly cared for by herself and her husband," he said. She works as a teacher's aide and in a drug-treatment program. She is active in her community. She has successfully combatted a substance abuse problem."

He said the prosecution appeared to be trying to redefine Hawai'i laws that define the rights of a person as beginning at birth, extending them to cover a fetus.

Prosecutor Peter Carlisle interprets the law differently, giving less emphasis to whether the crime occurred before or after birth, and more to the fact that a live birth had occurred.

"Once you have a human being born alive," he said, "As long as the reckless behavior caused the death, then that is all you need."

The indictment against Aiwohi alleges the reckless behavior that took place both before and after her son's birth.

Cases in California have been based on breast feeding by drug-abusing women.

Eddins said Aiwohi was breast feeding Treyson -- and had been doing so while the two were still in the hospital and under the watchful eyes of medical authorities.

Child protective services also evaluated the mother and son, and decided the family should go home together, Eddins said.

Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com