LITTLE VALLEY, N.Y. — Leslie A. Finch, a mother accused of killing her 1-year-old daughter in April 2015, will soon stand trial in Cattaraugus County Court.
The trial, for which the defense has opted to forego a jury, will begin at 9:30 a.m. next Monday, probing the death of young Mila Whipple, whose injuries sustained April 24 that year caused her death two days later at Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo. District Attorney Lori Rieman is prosecuting the case and seeking the maximum of 25 years to life in prison.
“I hope we find justice. These are very difficult cases,” Rieman said. “They’re very difficult to prove, and they’re very difficult to deal with. … I keep a little picture of (Mila) under my calendar at work, and I look at it every once in a while just to kind of remind me.”
Following a lengthy investigation by several police agencies, Finch, now 26, of Kill Buck, was arrested May 19, 2015. A Cattaraugus County grand jury handed up an indictment July 9, 2015, and she pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, a class A-1 felony; first-degree manslaughter, a class B felony; second-degree manslaughter, a class C felony; reckless assault of a child, a class D felony; first-degree assault, a class B felony; two counts of second-degree assault, a class D felony; and endangering the welfare of a child, a class A misdemeanor.
“Leslie did not do this, period,” defense attorney Jason Schmidt of Fredonia wrote in an email Sunday. “She was a caring and attentive mother despite many obstacles in her life. She has been unfairly judged, already tried and convicted in the community and social media. … We are fully committed to Leslie and to seeing that she is vindicated.”
Around noon the day of the incident, Salamanca emergency personnel responded to 191 Broad St., Salamanca, for an unresponsive 1-year-old girl. The child was Mila M. Whipple, who was born in April 2014.
Mila was transported to Olean General Hospital and then flown via medical helicopter to Women and Children’s Hospital. Medical professionals there informed Salamanca police the injuries likely were caused by abuse and that she probably wouldn’t survive, according to an initial report.
Mila died the morning of April 26.
“She died of a traumatic brain injury,” Rieman said. “We would allege that she squeezed her and shook her. We don’t use shaken-baby syndrome anymore. It could happen in different ways, but it’s our theory and our allegation that she shook her.”
Finch was remanded to Cattaraugus County Jail, but was later freed after Harry Scull, of Kill Buck, posted a portion of a $100,000 property bond. A bondsman, however, later revoked the bond, placing Finch back in custody after discovering Scull, who reportedly was dating Finch’s mother, had leveraged her release by putting up his former Buffalo Road property in Allegany that was destroyed in a fire and explosion April 6.
Scull was later convicted of insurance fraud and is on felony probation, Rieman said.
“He had used the house to secure the bond, and the house didn’t exist,” she added. “I don’t think that was her fault or her doing. I don’t think she even realized what happened.”
Finch is free again after her family secured another $100,000 bond.
Erie County Judge William Boller will preside due to a familial connection with a Cattaraugus County Court official. In the absence of a jury, he will decide the verdict.
“We decided to go non-jury because the facts here are very inflammatory and give rise to high emotions. We cannot risk a jury being so distracted by the facts that they fail to follow the law,” Schmidt wrote. “Each charge has legal elements, which must be proven by the prosecution. We trust that a judge can be dispassionate in applying the facts, as proven at trial, to the law. Given the pretrial publicity in this case, we could not have that degree of confidence in a jury.”
Going against the state and “all of its resources” will be a “David and Goliath fight,” he added.
