Staff writer
Kathryn Nycole Dale appeared in Harvey County District Court Friday with her attorney Gregory Barker. Dale is being held in Harvey County Detention Center on $50,000 bond on charges stemming from the March 27 death of her 19-month-old son Vincent Hill.
Dale is charged with two counts of aggravated endangerment of a child, one count of aggravated battery, and one charge of child abuse.
One of the charges alleges that Dale pushed a fork into the boy’s mouth, which accounted for cuts inside his mouth. The complaint against her also alleges she struck the boy in the face.
The other counts are related to the events that occurred March 27, when Hill died. Dale left him with her boyfriend, Chad Carr, and took her infant daughter to a baby shower in Wichita.
Barker asked Judge Joe Dickinson to allow Dale to be released on her own recognizance with electronic monitoring. He told the judge that she has no money and cannot meet the bond requirement.
Barker argued that Dale is not a flight risk because there is a child-in-need-of-care case pending on the infant daughter, who was placed in protective custody after Hill died. Barker said Dale would not flee as long as that issue was unresolved; that the case would keep her connected to Harvey County.
Harvey County Attorney David Yoder asked Dickinson not to grant the request because he wanted the court to hear the arguments during Dale’s preliminary hearing rather than make any decision in advance on the bond reduction motion.
Yoder also noted that Dale had been on suicide watch in the detention center.
Dickenson denied the bond reduction and Dale’s preliminary hearing continued until 9 a.m. today.
Carr will face a preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. on May 14. He is charged with two counts of aggravated battery and two counts of child abuse.