Four weeks ago, attorneys were working toward a plea deal in the case of a Baton Rouge mother indicted for second-degree murder after her 2-year-old son died of a fentanyl overdose.
But when Whitney Ard appeared in court Monday morning, she rejected the state's offer to plead guilty to a reduced manslaughter charge in exchange for 30 years in prison. The move would've eliminated the looming prospect of Ard serving a mandatory life sentence if she's convicted of murder, but she told a judge it was still too many years for her to swallow.
Manslaughter carries a 40-year maximum sentence. Assistant District Attorney Jaclyn Chapman put the state's offer on the table during a hearing Thursday. She gave Ard until Monday, when her trial was set to begin, to decide if she wanted to accept it.
As part of the deal, prosecutors agreed to drop a slate of drug and weapons charges Ard faces in an ongoing felony case stemming from a May 2022 narcotics raid at her house. Parish deputies arrested her after finding several baggies of fentanyl, according to court records.
Ard, 30, rejected the state's offer, even after Chapman advised the offer was only available through Monday, and District Judge Louise Hines Myers reminded her she would face a mandatory life sentence if she's found guilty of murder.
"I understand that, but I don't feel like they're offering much of a deal," Ard told the judge. "Manslaughter's maximum is 40 years. They're offering me 30; I can't take it."
Prosecutors pushed for the murder trial to begin as scheduled, but Ard's lead attorney, Dale Glover, underwent a medical procedure Friday. Glover's co-counsel, Sandra James Page, told the judge they were not prepared to begin because of the minor oral surgery, which impacted Glover's ability to communicate effectively. Glover, who was in the courtroom Monday, did not speak during the hearing.
The judge noted that it was the second time attorneys had asked to postpone the trial, which was first set to begin Jan. 29.
"I'm really reluctant to grant this motion," Hines Myers said. "But I can see that Mr. Glover's face is swollen and he does not seem like his full self right now. So I am going to grant it over the state's objection."
The judge reset the case as the lead trial on Sept. 9.
"Mr. Glover or Ms. Page, if either of you do not feel well, get someone else to come in," she told Ard's attorneys.
Ard was indicted in September 2022, three months after her toddler son, Mitchell Robinson III, died of a fentanyl overdose June 26, 2022. Ard found him unresponsive in their Denova Street home and rushed the child to the hospital for the third time in less than 11 weeks after he ingested fentanyl.
Robinson's death prompted a state investigation that revealed welfare workers from the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services failed to take any steps to intervene, even though the agency was warned multiple times of the safety risks to which Robinson was exposed.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Baton Rouge attorney Dale Glover had a seizure. It's been updated to reflect his condition. The Advocate regrets the error.