BRIAN WITTE
Associated Press

BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore police have taken over an investigation of the death of a 10-year-old boy at a home for medically fragile children in Anne Arundel County because of abuse he suffered years ago.

Damaud Martin died last week at a home run by LifeLine Inc. where state inspectors had found staffing problems. The state has since removed the children there.

Anne Arundel police began examining Damaud’s death, but Baltimore police took over because there had been a “prior trauma abuse incident in Baltimore city.” Damaud’s mother was convicted of child abuse in 2009 after Damaud was hospitalized with a severe brain injury. Her mother, Rosita Martin, says her daughter made an Alford plea. That’s when a defendant maintains her innocence, but acknowledges that the prosecution has enough evidence to convict her.

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