5-Year-Old Tells Cops His Mom Left Him: Bodycam

A Florida mom is banned [music] from. being around her own son after she. allegedly left him by himself at just 5. years old. >> Who else is in the house with you? >> Nobody. >> Nobody's home? Mama left you home alone? >> And what they [music] discovered inside. the North Miami Beach home caused. officers concerns [music]. to skyrocket. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law & Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber.

All right, before we go any further, I. just want to tell you real quick about. the sponsor that we have this app, it's. called Upside. This is a game changer. Why do I say that? Because Upside gets. you cash back, extra cash back on. everyday purchases like gas, groceries, takeout. So, here's what you do. You. download Upside for free, you claim an. offer at one of their 100,000 plus. locations, and you pay it like normal. with your card, and then you verify the. purchase, and just like that, money. back. So, say I need to get gas, or I. want takeout one night, I'll search for. Upside offers first, and after I spend, money's going to appear in my app that I.

can then transfer straight to my bank. account. And Upside's frequent users, they earn an average of $254. back a year. So, to start getting your. cash back, click the link in. description, or scan the QR code, and. use promo code Sidebar to get an extra. 25 cents bonus on every gallon on your. first tank of gas. Back on March 7th of. this year, police officers made a. shocking discovery on a street corner. right around the time that it started to. get dark. A little boy standing by. himself, seemingly looking for help.

North Miami Beach police officers' body. cameras were rolling as they tried to. figure out what exactly was going on. from a timid and terrified child. >> You live in there, right? >> Mhm, by myself. >> You live in there by yourself? >> Mhm, because my mom left me. >> Okay, your mom left you. What happened? >> He said his mom left to Walmart, left. him home alone. >> Walmart 8 North E. >> Is there anybody Is there anybody that. that lives with you?

No? Just you and mom? Yeah? And mommy mommy went to Walmart? Did she tell you how long she's going to. be? No? She didn't tell you what time she's. going to come back? Aw. But we'll we'll find mommy, okay? We'll find We'll find mommy. All right.

I'm glad you're okay. Glad you're okay. And you live in You live in the back? Yeah? Okay, we'll find mommy, all right? You have any brothers or sisters? Just you? And you're How old are you? Five? Man, you're big and strong, man.

Yeah, you're big and strong. Okay. What's up, buddy? Hello, young man. How you doing? Said his mom went to Walmart. Momma went to Walmart. So, what did you do just find him here? >> Just me and him I was standing over. there. >> In the corner?

>> Yeah, the boy tells police he's 5 years. old, that his mom had gone to Walmart, but that she hadn't come home yet. Now, his identity is blurred out in the video. clips that were released by police, but. he appears to be wearing a long-sleeve. shirt, no pants, no shoes. His mom, later identified as 23-year-old Britly. Lewis, is nowhere to be found. And an. officer does his best to keep the boy. calm as you have other investigators try. to get to the bottom of what's going on. here, even singing the ABCs and the Itsy. Bitsy Spider.

>> Like a police car? Come on. Come sit in my car for while we. wait for your mom, okay? Huh? Have you been inside a police car. before? See, look. It's clean, nice. All right, just have a seat, okay? I'm going to. leave the door open. I'm going to stay. with you the whole time, okay?

See, I have the lights. I have. everything. You like cars? What's your favorite. cars? >> Police. >> Huh? Police cars? You go to school? Huh? >> Not yet. >> What school do you go to? You know You. know the name of your school? >> Not yet. I'm not going to school yet. >> You're not going to school yet? Okay.

You go to. So you don't know your ABCs? You don't know your ABCs, right? You want to sing it with me? A B C D E F. G. I know you know it. H I J K L M N O P. What's next? Come on, what's next? Q R X. Y Y Y. W.

Y Z. Now I. Now I know my ABC. Next time won't you sing with me. See, you know it. Why pretend you don't know it? Huh? What else do you know? What do you What's your favorite song?

Huh? You don't remember? You know the Itsy Bitsy Spider? You know the. Itsy Bitsy Spider, you know? You know that song, too? Yeah, you do. You laugh because I start singing. because I see you laughing. It's okay. Give me five.

>> And while this 5-year-old boy just. waited in the car, according to an. affidavit that we reviewed, officers. found the open door that the boy had. used to leave the home, but no one was. inside. But when you look at the. conditions, according to police, that. could change everything, because those. conditions were reportedly appalling. According to arrest paperwork, there. were stacks of boxes 3 to 4 ft tall, as. tall or even taller than the boy. himself. The officers described the home. as showing signs of hoarding with dirt.

and spider webs everywhere, food rotting. all over the place. And apparently, when. they opened the refrigerator, the smell. was, quote, "extremely unbearable.". Now, authorities tried reaching Lewis, but they actually weren't able to until. she reached out to police several hours. later. This is according to the. affidavit. And she claimed and she. apparently said that a friend would be. coming by to pick up her son. But that. friend apparently never showed up. But. police ended up contacting her, too, and.

she said she wasn't comfortable taking. the boy. She also said she didn't know. where Lewis was. Now, this 5-year-old. was eventually turned over to the. Florida Department of Children and. Families. The officers, they went back. to the house the following day, March. 8th, and they finally found Lewis, arresting her for one count of child. neglect without great bodily harm, and. unlawful desertion of a child, both. felonies. And at her first appearance, a. judge granted her a $5,000 bond, which. she apparently posted according to the. court docket, but she's forbidden to.

have any contact with her son. Now, this. bond modification paperwork that was. filed with the court reveals a bit more. about Lewis. According to her public. defender, she had lived in the Miami. area for the past 10 years, had worked. for Delta Airlines for four, so you're. talking about a steady job. The boy's. father passed away 3 years ago, so Lewis. was a single mother. And her defense. also said she had no criminal record. And this is all important, and we'll. talk about what it could mean for her. case moving forward. So, let's get into. this. Okay, I want to discuss this a. little bit more. I want to break down.

the law on this. So, joining me once. again, I haven't seen her in quite some. time, uh practice professor of law, former child abuse prosecutor, Mary. Brocha. Uh thank you so much for taking. the time. Always good to see you. I was. funny, before you and I got on, you. said, "I want to put a I want to pull up. the statutes on this." I was like, "I. already have them. I already have them.". You said it. Great Great minds think. alike. Okay, so I wanted to ask you if. I'm going to read you the statutes. I'm. going to read you the definitions. You. tell me, based on what we're seeing the. reporting, based upon the fact pattern. put forward by authorities, if it. matches. So, if we're talking about.

child neglect, the Florida statute. defines neglect of a child as. a caregiver's willful failure or. omission to provide a child with the. care, supervision, and services. necessary to maintain the child's. physical and mental health, including, but not limited to, food, nutrition, clothing, shelter, supervision, medicine, and medical services that a. prudent person would consider essential. for the well-being of the child. The term does not include a caregiver. allowing a child to engage in. independent and unsupervised activities.

unless allowing such activities. constitute willful and wanton wanton. conduct that endangers the health or. safety of the child. Uh such independent. and unsupervised activities include but. are not limited to. uh traveling to or from school or nearby. locations by bicycle or foot. I don't. know if I think that that that one. really applies. There's a caregiver's. failure to make a reasonable effort to. protect a child uh from abuse, neglect, or exploitation by another person. Yeah, that one doesn't apply. So, it's really. it's really that. Let's start with that. charge and then we'll move on to the.

other one. You tell me, is this child neglect? >> So, first of all, it's nice to see you. as well. Thank you for having me back. Um I I think that if this were an. isolated incident, I think that if the. only evidence that the prosecution had. were was the fact that um the child. flagged down police officers and and. reported that that he'd been left home. alone. Um that might be considered an. isolated incident and something that's. perhaps worthy of social service. intervention or worthy of some kind of.

supervision or family oversight. Not. sure if a if a one-time incident where. the child saying, "My mommy went to. Walmart and I don't know when she's. going to be back." I don't know that. that would rise to the level of the. standard of neglect that the statute. imagines. However, what we have in this. case is evidence of the child's living. conditions that I think carry the day in. in a much more stringent way than the. reporting on this. what some might consider an isolated. incident, right? So, you'll have the.

responding officers who are available um. a sensible to come in and testify to the. conditions of the home, um the. availability of food, the cleanliness of. the home, the basic hygienic or. unhygienic conditions that the child was. living in. And I think all of those. details will go to um what some courts. call a course of conduct which would. deprive the child of the healthy living. conditions that the child has a right to. that would ensure the child's physical.

and certainly mental health. >> I I think you are take articulated it. perfectly. It's not just one isolated. example, right? It's it's a totality of. factors of alleged factors here. And. when the statute says a person who. willfully or by culpable negligence. neglects a child, feel free to talk. about what what that means and why. that's important. But you're right, it's. not just the living conditions. So. somebody might be saying, well, what. does that mean? I have to keep my house. in tidy order, otherwise I'm going to be.

charged with child neglect? Not. necessarily, right? I think it's the. where the child was found, what the. child said, the conditions of the house, also the allegation that she never. picked the child up, right? The idea, I'm going to send a friend to pick the. child up, didn't. So So talk to me about. a little bit more about this if we're. talking about was it willful or by. culpable negligence that she neglected. the child or allegedly neglected the. child. >> Yeah, and and I think based on on what. you described, I think the prosecution. would have an argument on under both.

standards in terms of the willfulness. and culpable negligence. Um as you know, and I'm sure as many of your viewers. know, most of the laws in our American. system are based on what we call the. reasonable person standard. So we have. to consider what a. reasonable average person walking down. the street, person in this parent's. position would have done. So we'd be. asking essentially a jury of this. defendant's, this eventual defendant's. peers, um what is it reasonable for her.

over however much time to have exposed. the child to these living conditions? Is. that someone um who who was disregarding. the standard um that that we have set as. a society for what we think is. acceptable and reasonable, essentially. the the minimum required to be deemed um. a caregiver. And so I think they'd be. asking, the prosecution would be asking. a fact finder, either a judge or a jury, to take a look at this totality of.

circumstances, the conditions of excuse. me of the home, um the length of time. that the child was left unsupervised, the availability or unavailability of. the mother to respond to police. outreach, to then show up when she said. she was going to and and pick up the. child. All of that goes to, you know, one of our favorite phrases in the law, totality of circumstances, to show that. not only was this willful, not only was. there um. um a knowing disregard for the.

well-being, the safety, the care of the. child, but then at the same time we're. saying, even if you are not a great. homemaker, even if you do maintain a. messy house, I I will plead guilty to to. that right now, that that is the reality. of your situation as a parent, um this. falls well below the standard that we. have a community we as a community and. as a society have set for what we expect. caregivers to do for their children or. those in their care.

>> Let's go to the desertion charge. I. looked this up, too. They say "Desertion. or deserts means to leave a child in a. place or with a person other than a. relative with the intent not to return. to the child and with the intent not to. provide for the care of the child." So, Over back to you, can a defense be um. "Hey, you know, my son was mistaken. I. was I was coming to pick him up.". >> Yeah, I I think that's I think that's um. a touchy area in the language of this.

statute, right? Because we we the. prosecution would have to show um an. intent to permanently desert, right? To. say, um I'm leaving and I'm never coming. back. We again as a society might not. approve of or appreciate a parent. leaving, especially a child this young, um for a certain amount of time, for you. know, an extended period of hours, even. I think for a weekend as as the child. had initially reported. Um so, we can. all, you know, ordinarily we would say.

again as a society that is just not. reasonably prudent care that one would. show to their child or someone in their. care. But, at the same time the defense. is going to say, "What is your proof. that this parent intended to permanently. desert? That this that this woman was. never going to come back? Was she. packed? Did she take her belongings with. her? Did she leave anything behind in. the apartment, her passport or excuse. me, her home, her passport, her ID, her. vital records, her birth certificate, her social security card? Where is your.

proof that she was leaving town and. never coming back? If there is that um a. requirement in the statute for proof of. of an intent to permanently desert." So, I think that might be an argument that. the defense makes. Um and you know, again, it's one that the prosecution. would have to go back to the. circumstances under which they um. encountered the child and and and how. long the child had been left. unsupervised and frankly whether or not. uh this had happened before. And I know. that we've talked a lot about that in.

the past about other acts and how they. can inform um. the the the intent or the finding of. intent in a particular instance. Um but, that might be something worth. investigating for both the police and. the prosecutors. >> Let me ask you this, if this were to go. to trial and she was convicted and I. understand these to be third-degree. felonies uh with potential punishment of. up to 5 years in prison on each charge. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. That's. that's the way that I saw it. Would she Would that be stacked? Would. it be 5 years in total? Would it even be.

5 years? Could it be stacked on top, 10. years? What do you expect for something. like that? >> Well, I I think a lot goes into a. sentencing decision, as you know. Um we. we don't know or at least I don't know. um her any potential prior criminal. exposure that she may have if she has. >> according to her attorney she doesn't. have a criminal history. >> So so a a prior record score would. certainly be factored into the. sentencing. uh decision if she has no prior contacts.

if there's been no. prior reports to the Department of Child. and Youth Services. that would certainly impact the. the the sentence. Now of course that 5. year max is the statutory availability. that a sentencing judge would have. Could a judge sentence up to 5 years on. each on each charge if she were. convicted on each charge? The answer is. yes. Would they? I think it would depend on the judge. In. my experience likely not because of the.

zero prior record score. and because I think ordinarily there is. an interest especially when we're. dealing with cross courts like family. courts and criminal courts there is an. interest in keeping parents with their. children, keeping children with their. parents and trying to improve the social. and the home situation. But to answer. your your question could these 5 year. sentences be stacked? They could because. they're not they are they are separate. statutes. They don't.

uh. merge if you will and one isn't a lesser. included of the the other. So. they could run consecutively for a. period of up to 10 years. Would they? Likely not but again that would be. within the discretion of the sentencing. judge. >> If this went to trial would her son have. to testify against her or you say we. don't need to do that we have the we. have the body cam we'll use that or do. you need him to testify? >> Well remember if they play the body cam.

video in court anything that the child. is heard saying on the body cam is. technically considered hearsay right? Because we've talked about the. definition of hearsay before it's. anything that's said outside of court. that we want the fact finder to accept. as true, to accept as a fact that's been. proven or presented in in the case. So, technically, whatever the child um. would have been heard, would have been. recorded saying to the responding. officers would be considered hearsay.

Um a prosecutor who knows their evidence. law would go through the available. exceptions in the evidence code and find. uh whether or not there is an exception. to hearsay that would admit um uh those. statements in terms of perhaps that the. child's present condition, like a. present sense impression, or the child's. then existing emotional state, saying, "I'm scared." or, "I'm lonely." or, "I'm. hungry." Um that would be that would be. something that would be accepted. >> jump in real quick? So, so you're saying. the there's a possibility if that was. played and the child says on camera,

"You my mom left me. She told me she was. going to Walmart." the judge would have. to instruct the jury, "You can't use. that to say that's evidence clear's day. of desertion or child neglect." It can. be used for another purpose. It can. provide context, but you're saying. that's. something we should be considering? >> That is definitely something that you. should be considering, but again, the. prosecutors are going to consider. whether there is. um what I'll call a creative outlet, an. ethical creative outlet that they can.

use within the rules of evidence and. within the strictures of the rules of. evidence to find an exception to admit. those statements from the child even for. their truth, meaning as a fact that they. that they are asking um the judge or the. jury to accept as true. So, um this is. all kind of part of the the pre-trial. strategy that the prosecutors would go. through. Um. would the child have to testify? In all likelihood, I would, if I were.

handling this case, I would likely rest. on the observations of the responding. officers in terms of the condition of. the child, the demeanor of the child, how they were presenting, if they were. shaking, if they were scared, if they. were shivering, if they were cold, anything like that. Um and then. certainly my on scene personal. observations of the home and the the. living conditions of the child. And I. think um evidence like that, especially. if it was documented in terms of um. the if the officers were still uh. recording on their body cams or if.

photos were taken of the scene, I think. that visual evidence would be very. powerful to prove um the substandard. living conditions of the child. >> And and if they can testify that she. never picked him up, right? That that. that as well. Let me ask you this. Um do. you think this is going to go to trial, a case like this? Or do you think that. there could be some sort of negotiated. plea? >> Well, uh I think that obviously a trial. is an absolute right for any defendant. who's who's charged with a crime. So, if. this defendant wanted to hold um the. government to its burden and say you.

have to prove every element of every. crime charged against me beyond a. reasonable doubt, that is the. government's burden every day of the. week. Um and so that would be perfectly. within her absolute right to demand that. proof. Um I could also envision a world. where again um if there is uh. cross um collaboration or cooperation. between courts like family courts and. the criminal courts um to arrange some. kind of uh either negotiated plea or. some kind of suspended sentence to get.

her the again the social services that. she needs, the social supports, maybe. even the parenting classes, if there's. anything else going on that a. presentence investigation would reveal, anything in the way of mental health. treatment that's necessary or even. substance abuse treatment that's. necessary. I would envision a court. being forward-looking and um wanting to. prevent further harm to the child and. certainly to um this parent as well. So, I I could see um a creative sentence. being negotiated um to make sure that.

this family gets the services they need. >> One of the things that I find. interesting is the bond modification. paperwork in this case because sometimes. bond modification is a different. standard for obviously you're asking a. judge to reduce or modify bond. It's a. different standard than if you're. talking about the evidence used to show. someone's not guilty of a crime. But I. do think it sometimes can give you a. preview of where the defense may go, maybe even give you a preview of some of. the mitigating factors they may argue at. sentencing. So one of the things they. basically say about the $5,000 bond is.

she doesn't really have an ability to. pay any amount of bond. Um they say. basically holding her is tantamount with. no bond. Uh they say she's not a danger. to the community. She has absolutely no. criminal history in Miami-Dade County. Uh she's not a flight not a flight risk. She has lived in Miami for the past 10. years. Uh she has extensive ties to the. community. She has family here including. her son, sister-in-law, mother-in-law. And that her partner, so the boy's. father, uh passed away three years ago.

And so she is a single mother. Any of. that. Uh and I I haven't seen the latest. regarding the bond paperwork. I I bond. status. I don't know if it's changed. I. don't believe it has. Anything those. factors we should think about in terms. of bond, but more importantly as this. case potentially progresses. in terms of sentencing or arguments at. trial? >> Well, um all of those statements are. judicial admissions and they are. available to the prosecution to use. against the defendant. And so when I. hear those arguments for um amending the.

bond condition, um a few things come to. mind. First of all, the argument that. she's not a flight risk. Well, she is or. at least an argu- argument can be made. that she is because she didn't show up. when she said she was going to show up. And she um left her child for however. long that she left her child, allegedly. of course, because it has to be proven. in court. So that would be the argument. I'd make against the flight risk um or. the the lack of flight risk argument. Um. and further when the defense states that. she has significant family support,

they're also including the 5-year-old. that she again allegedly deserted, but. they mention a mother-in-law and a. sister-in-law who were not notified and. who were not called to come to the scene. to help care for this child or come pick. up this child. She called a friend who. also didn't feel comfortable coming to. pick up the child. So, I think there are. arguments cutting against um, what the. defense represented in terms of her. community support and her um, intention. to remain present and fully participate.

in the defense of her own case. >> Professor Miriam Baracha, always great. to have you. Thank you so much for. breaking it down in a way that we can. all understand. Thank you. Appreciate. it. >> Thanks, Jesse. Have a great weekend. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so. much for joining us and as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your. podcast. You can also check us out in. NBC's [music] Peacock as well. We have. Sidebar episodes up there as well. If. you want to follow me, X, Instagram, my. NewsNation show, Jesse Weber live, Monday through Friday, 11:00 p.m.

Eastern. I'll see you next time, everybody.