Woman charged with son's death found fit to stand robbery-charge trial

A former Lake in the Hills woman charged in the death of her newborn son is mentally fit to stand trial on unrelated federal bank robbery accusations, a U.S. District Court judge ruled last week.

Judge Frederick J. Kapala rejected arguments by the lawyer for Lyndsey R. Tucker that the 26-year-old woman could not understand the legal proceedings against her, finding instead that federal prosecutors proved her competent to face trial.

Tucker faces two bank robbery charges alleging she held up two Lake in the Hills banks in February 2007, using a toy gun in once instance and a knife in another. She confessed to the charges after her arrest, federal authorities said.

Despite last week's ruling, indications are that Tucker's defense attorney still intends to pursue an insanity defense if she goes to trial on the bank robbery charges.

Tucker may consider a similar tactic if or when she goes to trial in McHenry County on involuntary manslaughter and concealment of a homicide charge. stemming from the July death of her newborn son.

A grand jury indicted her on those charges last month, alleging that she made no effort to keep the boy alive after secretly giving birth in a bathroom of an apartment she shared with his father.

The boy's father later found his body wrapped in a plastic bag and stuffed under the bathroom sink. An autopsy showed that the boy died of asphyxia due to obstruction of the mouth and nose by a placenta membrane.

Tucker has yet to appear in a McHenry County courtroom on those charges.

Who is to blame?: Should a teacher or school be held accountable when one student harms another in class?

We're getting closer to finding out after a McHenry County judge last week let stand most of a lawsuit blaming officials at Crystal Lake South High School for injuries a student received when attacked by a classmate in gym class.

Judge Michael Sullivan upheld four of six counts in the lawsuit that Crystal Lake High School District 155 was asking him to throw out.

Among those remaining are counts claiming that misconduct by the students' teacher allowed the attack to take place.

The counts dismissed by Sullivan concerned whether the school district had a duty to train teachers to intervene in student altercations, and whether the district should have moved the student accused of attacking his classmate into a special education program.

Former Crystal Lake South student Ryan Nornberg filed the suit last year, seeking at least $100,000 for injuries he suffered when, the suit claims, classmate Brady Coleman beat him Jan. 26, 2006, during a team handball game in physical education class.

Coleman, the suit claims, struck Nornberg in the face, unprovoked, then kicked him in the head and chest until he lost consciousness. The assault, according to the lawsuit, left Nornberg hospitalized for two days and out of school for two weeks.

The lawsuit alleges the class' teacher was aware of prior violent episodes by Coleman, yet allowed him to continue participating in team handball.

School district attorney Robert Swain argued in court last week that the school and its teacher should not be held accountable for the actions of a student.

"What we have here is a student fight," Swain said. "There was a battery here committed by a student, and they're trying to go after the school district."

Nornberg attorney Kevin Bruning, however, said the teacher willfully ignored indications there might be trouble between the students.

"This is a teacher who knew there was a problem and did utterly nothing to stop the problem," he said. "She utterly disregarded the safety of her students."

Sullivan's decision keeps the case headed toward trial, though no date for when that might occur has been set. Instead, the case is scheduled to be back in court April 29 for a pre-trial status hearing.

Coleman, 20, was charged with battery as a result of the incident. The case is pending.