Uniontown mother convicted of third-degree murder in son’s death
A Fayette County jury took about 2 ½ hours to convict a Uniontown mother of third-degree murder in the 2008 death of her infant son.
Lori Workman, 27, could face a maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years behind bars for the death of nearly 4-month-old Homer Workman on Sept. 22, 2008. She could face additional jail time for a charge of endangering the welfare of children, of which the panel also convicted her Thursday.
Workman, who cried on the stand when she testified Wednesday, showed little reaction. The boy’s father, Eric Workman Sr., sat in the back of the courtroom and sobbed as the verdict was read.
Police charged that Lori Workman hit her child twice with a crib rail as he cried on Aug. 20, 2008. Assistant District Attorney Linda Cordaro argued that Lori Workman abused her son continually during his short life.
Cordaro had asked the jury of eight women and four men to convict Lori Workman of first-degree murder, which would have carried a life sentence.
“Based on the evidence in this case, you can find that Homer Workman did not have a chance of survival in the care of his mother (Lori Beth Workman),” Cordaro argued in her closing remarks. “He was severely abused in his tragic, short life, and it was his own mother’s abuse that caused his death.”
Uniontown police Capt. David J. Rutter testified Lori Workman told him that she used a crib rail to hit the infant twice on the head the month before.
Cordaro argued that Lori Workman knew what she was doing when she used the crib rail to hit the child, and pointed out to the panel that Lori Workman told police and a child welfare worker that she was Homer Workman’s sole caretaker.
Her husband, Eric Workman, testified that he twice saw his wife squeeze their son hard, and said that she told him she was frustrated by the infant’s crying and wished she did not have children.
Lori Workman, who testified in her own defense, denied saying those things, and denied harming her son.
However, Cordaro argued that Lori Workman lacked credibility.
She told jurors if they believed Lori Workman’s testimony that everyone who testified essentially lied, they would have to ask themselves why everyone conspired to set up the defendant. Cordaro called Lori Workman’s contention that everyone lied “completely preposterous.”
Cordaro also pointed to the testimony of Dr. Lucy B. Rorke-Adams, who told jurors that Homer Workman had two skull fractures, hemorrhages to his brain, and died of chronic, acute trauma to his head.
Rorke-Adams testified that the last injury the infant suffered was within a day or two of his death.
While there was no testimony about Lori Workman injuring the child in the days before his death, Cordaro argued that they jury could infer that she had a pattern of abusing her son during his brief life and was the sole person responsible for his death.
Assistant Public Defender Mary Campbell Spegar, in her closing Wednesday, asked jurors to acquit Lori Workman because there was no direct evidence to link her to causing her child’s death.
President Judge Gerald R. Solomon will sentence Lori Workman on Thursday.