D.A drops charges against physician accused of failing to report child abuse

Dona Ana District Attorney Mark D’Antonio has dropped all charges against a Las Cruces doctor accused of failing to report child abuse. The charges were first filed after the death of a 7-month old baby.

Last year, police arrested and charged Ann Mercer with three counts of failure to report child abuse. She was accused of not telling police about the neglect and abuses suffered by 7-month old Shania Smith.

Shania was the daughter of 33-year old Annette Smith and sentenced to 21 years in prison in August. She pleaded guilty to various child abuse charges that led to the death of her baby.

Dr. Mercer operated a private school where smith’s other two daughters attended. Court documents state the girls told Mercer about the abuse.

According to court documents obtained by Abc-7, one of Smith’s older daughters told mercer that her mother was refusing to feed the baby, and that she left the baby in soiled diapers. Police say she also confided in mercer that her mother was placing blankets on top of the baby for long periods of time. That is what police say, ultimately led to the death of baby Shania.

Mercer would normally pick up the girls from school and at times, feed them, that’s when police say, the girls talked about their problems at home. The girls allegedly told mercer their mother wasn’t just abusing baby Shania, but she was abusing them too–hitting them with a broom or stick on a regular basis. But Mercer told investigators one of the girls had a history of lying, so she didn’t know if she was telling the truth and she did not want to quote, “pry.”

Under state statute–medical professionals and teachers are required to report abuse immediately. Police say even though mercer was notified about the abuse, she never reported the allegations to law enforcement of the state’s Children, Youth and Families Department. Las Cruces Police, whose investigators questioned Mercer, say the D.A’s decision to drop the charges is “disheartening.”

“To find that it was just dismissed without contacting them, that’s where I think they were really upset about it, because they thought they had a great case, and when it gets dismissed without even talking to us, these questions, what happened, did we miss something? Was our investigation shoddy? Which I don’t think it was, they had some great evidence in this case that they were ready to give out in court,” LAs Cruces Police Chief Jaime Montoya said.

In a statement sent to Abc-7, Dr. Mercer’s attorney said, “Dr. Mercer was wrongly charged. We are extremely pleased that the district attorney’s office saw the light and dismissed, but unfortunately Dr. Mercer was wrongly charged and had to endure being arrested and jailed unnecessarily, as well as having to defend her reputation that was impugned by headlines concerning her arrest. At least now she can continue to help people through her medical practice and her school.”

District Attorney Mark D’Antonio tells Abc-7 the charges were dropped because of a significant change in the available evidence to go to trial. When asked what that evidence, was, Abc-7 was told no comment.