Markes' arraignment is postponed again

Erin Brittney Markes' arraignment on felony charges of neglecting her 4-year-old son has been carried over yet again, this time due to a conflict in her defense attorney's schedule.

The arraignment was previously continued to May 7 at the request of the State Attorney's Office. Assistant State Attorney Will Nelson had told Judge Ron Swanson the State needed additional time to complete its investigation into the allegations of felony neglect.

Assistant State Attorney Will Nelson said on Tuesday morning the State Attorneys office is still investigating the allegations of abuse, but taking into consideration the unique medical situation of the child.

"We have a scheduling conflict for tomorrow, Markes' attorney has another court appearance and we are going to pass the arraignment for a tentative date of May 28 at 9 a.m.

"This is only a tentative date at this time. We have advised the court of our decision to pass to a later date and I am sure the court will not have a problem with it, and it will give us [State Attorney's Office] the chance to complete our investigation.

"The Judge hearing the case will more than likely change to Judge Thomas R. Santurri due to the rotation of Judges assigned to cases," says nelson.

Nelson says the State's investigation is progressing.

"At this time we are still actively investigating the abuse allegations by interviewing doctors from the initial report of abuse as well as doctors and others regarding previous allegations of abuse in Missouri [where Markes lived before moving to Pace].

"We are making good progress on our investigation, although we have not concluded our interviews yet.

"I don't think the statements made by DCF about Markes becoming less cooperative will have any bearing on the criminal investigation and neither will the concerns mentioned by DCF about the person who Markes lives with. These are all DCF issues and don't really impact the criminal investigation," says Nelson.

DCF will be continuing its custody of Markes' son and investigating the dependency issues while the State pursues its investigation of criminal charges.

Meanwhile, Markes continues to visit with her son at Baptist Hospital where he has begun a gradual decline, having lost a little over a pound in the last week.

He currently weighs about 16 pounds; still about six pounds heavier than when he was admitted into the hospital and the investigation of neglect began.

Hospital staff had reported to DCF Markes had been hostile toward the medical personnel regarding the care of her son.

DCF representatives and case workers stated in the dependency hearing held on Monday they felt Markes was emotionally unstable and they had some concerns about her mental status at this time due to her cooperation with the agency falling off and the inability of the agency to contact Markes over the past week.

Randall Werre, the attorney representing Markes in the dependency proceedings said he would provide the court and DCF with Markes contact information, as she had changed her telephone numbers.

"I have the information for her, I am unaware of any problems. It is a pretty good assessment to say that she [Markes] is under emotional distress. I am sure her emotional state is appropriate to the situation," said Werre.