Sep 18, 2008 4 min read

In its findings Wednesday, the jury said there was “obviously neglect” by the parents of Lilly Martin. The panel also found that there was endangerment of the child’s well-being, and recommended Fayette County Children and Youth Services continue to monitor Martin’s older brother. Martin died at her home at 743 Bull Run Road in Brownsville on June 6. While her cause of death was listed as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and the manner was ruled natural, the jury expressed concern that her parents, Jennifer Gaster and Daniel Martin, were allegedly drinking and using cocaine the night before the baby died.

“No one was capable of responding to any distress she (Lilly Martin) would have been in,” the jury wrote in its recommendation that authorities pursue charges.

SIDS is the unexplained, sudden death of an infant younger than age 1.

The recommendation will be forwarded to District Attorney Nancy D. Vernon, who said that she will review the case. She lauded the work of the jury, and said she takes the fact-findings of the panel “very seriously.”

“I give it much weight in my deliberations whether or not to file criminal charges,” she said after the inquest.

State police Trooper Joseph Panepinto said that Gaster was “deceptive” with police when asked about how much she had to drink. Initially, he said she drank about five beers. However, Michelle Jordan, who was at the home the night Lilly Martin died, testified that the couple drank more than that, and were using cocaine.

Attorney Thomas W. Shaffer, who represented Gaster and Daniel Martin, argued that Jordan was not a credible witness, and suggested that she was cooperating to keep custody of her own children.

Panepinto countered that he had promised Jordan nothing, and said that she came in because she wanted to be truthful. The trooper also indicated between 2 a.m. and 9:45 a.m., when Gaster found her daughter’s body, that Gaster claimed to be sleeping.

He suggested that it was more like she may have been “passed out.”

“No mother can sleep for eight hours without a baby waking them up,” he said. “This is a tragedy, but someone has to be held accountable for what happened that day.”

Reilly noted that tests done on the baby did not show any alcohol or cocaine, even though Gaster was breastfeeding, but said that police had no authority to take blood samples from the parents to find out if those tests would have been positive.

Shaffer said that Gaster breastfed the child at 2 a.m., and that bolsters the claim that Gaster was not drinking or using drugs. Panepinto, however, said that it was possible she lied to police and never breastfed her child.

Neither Gaster nor Daniel Martin testified at the hearing.

Shaffer argued in his closing that there was no reason to file charges, noting that forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht performed the autopsy on the baby, and found that she died of natural causes. Because the death was natural, he contended that the death did not rise to level of anything criminal.

“It will only be a waste of taxpayer money (to take the case to trial),” he said.

Shaffer suggested the inquest was being held at Vernon’s behest.

“We’re here to make sure if something happens later, it’s not going to come back to haunt someone’s political career,” he said.

Vernon said that is untrue.

“This office never takes any death – let alone the death of a child – lightly,” she said.

Vernon noted that the decision to have an inquest is Coroner Dr. Phillip E. Reilly’s and said the system of having six coroner’s jurors review the matter “has worked very well in the past.”

Neither Vernon nor Children and Youth Services are bound by the suggestions of the jury.