HANCOCK COUNTY — It was one of the biggest cases brought in 2018 by the Hancock County prosecutor’s office.
After a child was badly injured by what physicians said was child abuse — specifically, shaken baby syndrome — two teenage parents were waived into adult court to face a series of felony counts.
Now, in a twist that shows how complex and fluid the legal system can be, all the cases against those charged in the case have been settled in an unexpected way. The charges against the teenage parents have been sent to juvenile court. Charges against the child’s paternal grandparents, who had been accused of neglect, have been dropped.
The child, meanwhile, has made what officials are calling a miraculous recovery.
Brandon Kimberlin and his girlfriend, Caitlin Mann, were 16 and 17 when the alleged abuse occurred, in the fall of 2017. Reports at the time showed police believed Kimberlin caused the child’s injuries, which included broken bones and bleeding in the brain. Mann and Kimberlin’s parents, who helped care for the child, didn’t do enough to help the baby when the child went into cardiac arrest, officials said at the time.
Kimberlin’s parents — Pearl Holland, 40; and Heath Kimberlin, 43 — were originally each charged with multiple felony neglect counts. They faced significant prison time if convicted.
Charges against Heath Kimberlin were dropped in April 2019, according to court records. Charges against Holland were dismissed a couple of weeks ago in Hancock County Circuit Court.
Prosecutor Brent Eaton said the case took a long time to become clear and that justice was served. He was particularly pleased to report the child has made a strong recovery.
“The child is in a safe environment and doing really well,” Eaton said. “I don’t want to use the word ‘miracle,’ but that is where we are, and it’s really a blessing that things turned out this way.”
When the baby was originally injured, Eaton said his office had no choice but to charge all four people who had taken care of the child. As the case unfolded and more evidence was brought to light, his office felt the right thing to do was dismiss charges against the grandparents.
“There is always a process,” Eaton said. “We’re going to always reach out and do what we can to protect the children in Hancock County.”
As for the teenage parents, Judge Scott Sirk heard testimony in a closed hearing in January 2018 before signing a petition waiving the two teens from juvenile probation into adult court. That move came at the request of the prosecutor’s office.
Brandon Kimberlin, now 19, was originally charged with four felonies, including aggravated battery. All adult charges against him were officially dropped Tuesday, Feb. 11. His case, like Mann’s, was sent back to juvenile court to be settled, Eaton said.
Three felony charges of neglect against Mann, now 20, were dropped in December.
At that time, Eaton noted that juvenile records are confidential, so he was prohibited from discussing the details of Mann’s case despite the fact it had been pending in adult court for some time. Eaton offered the same response when asked to comment on the case against Brandon Kimberlin.
“I always want to be as transparent as possible. However, in this case, due to confidentiality rules related to juvenile cases I am prohibited from real comment beyond what I have provided on this,” Eaton said.
The baby was born prematurely on Sept. 29, 2017, and spent much of the first month of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, court records show.
On Oct. 25, 2017, the baby was discharged and brought to a home on Brook Street in Greenfield, where his young parents and grandparents lived.
About two weeks later, on Nov. 10, the baby’s caregivers told first-responders the baby had awoken from a nap and appeared to be gasping for breath. They also found what appeared to be dried blood in and around the child’s mouth, and they decided to call for help, according to court documents.
Paramedics examined the baby and recommended he be taken to the hospital for further care, but the family refused to have the baby transported, court documents state.
Early the next morning — about six hours after paramedics left the Brook Street home — the family rushed the child to Hancock Regional Hospital. They told doctors there the baby hadn’t eaten but was having fits of vomiting, court documents state.
Doctors noted the baby’s skin had turned blue and gray in color and felt cold to the touch, court documents state. As doctors examined him, the baby went into cardiac arrest, and doctors began CPR, court documents state.
Doctors pinpointed Nov. 7 and Nov. 10 of 2017 as the days they believe the child was harmed, according to court documents.
