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November 5, 2004
Mom Details
Son's Issues at Camp-Death Trial; 14-Year-Old's Dehydration Linked
to Medication
By Michael Kiefer
A distraught
mother told a Maricopa County Superior Court jury Thursday how her
son's emotional problems drove her to seek help from a tough-love
boot camp where he later died.
Melanie Hudson
testified in the trial of Charles Long, who is charged with
second-degree murder in the 2001 death of Hudson's 14-year-old son,
Anthony Haynes.
And even as she
described her frustrations with a child out of control, she detailed
the medications and medical conditions that may have contributed to
his death.
Guided by the
questions of Deputy County Attorney Kristen Larish, Hudson told how
Haynes suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; he
took one medication for that and another to control his anger and
anxiety. One of those had taxed his liver to the point that he was
at risk of jaundice and was going to discontinue taking the
medication as soon as he finished his planned five-week
desert-endurance camp.
"With the
medicines he was taking, he needed water," Hudson said, "lots of
water."
On
cross-examination by Long's defense attorney, JoAnn Garcia, Hudson
admitted that she had not written that down on her son's medical
information form, but had verbally relayed it to Long's
organization.
Haynes weighed
216 pounds and used a hearing aid. He was doing poorly in school and
had been on probation for shoplifting.
Mental health
professionals referred Hudson to Long's Buffalo Soldiers Re-Enactors
Association and she enrolled her son in weekend drills in
Scottsdale. On two successive weekends, Haynes tried to avoid going
to the drills by putting nails in the tires of his mother's car.
At wit's end,
Hudson asked Long for help and he arranged a scholarship for the boy
to attend the summer camp.
When Larish
asked why Hudson would send a boy who needed extra water to a camp
in the desert near Buckeye, she responded, "I understood they were
going to be in a higher elevation at Saguaro Lake and at Fort
Huachuca."
Saguaro Lake is
at an elevation of 1,529 feet, only about 400 feet higher than
Phoenix; Fort Huachuca is above 4,800 feet.
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