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SPRINGFIELD, Mass.— The financial guardian of a 12-year-old girl who was hospitalized after allegedly being beaten by her adoptive mother is seeking at least $100,000 from the adoptive mother's estate.
Holli Strickland adopted Haleigh L. Poutre in 2001. State prosecutors allege Strickland and her husband, Jason Strickland, 32, severely beat Haleigh, landing her in the hospital, unconscious in September 2005. Holli Strickland died about a week later, alongside her grandmother in an apparent murder-suicide.
Jason Strickland pleaded not guilty last month to assault and battery charges in Haleigh's case.
The girl's court-appointed guardian, David M. Murphy, has filed suit seeking more than $100,000 from Holli Strickland's estate, according to The Republican newspaper of Springfield, for medical care and to compensate for the 12-year-old's suffering.
Although Holli Strickland signed a will that excluded Haleigh, Murphy's suit contends the girl is a creditor whose debt must be settled before the estate is doled out, the newspaper reported.
When Haleigh was taken to the hospital she had severe brain damage. Haleigh has since been in custody of the state Department of Social Services. She had been the focus of a right-to-die case last year before she showed improvement and state officials transferred her to a rehabilitation hospital in Boston.
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Information from: The Springfield Republican, http://www.masslive.com/republican/index.ssf">http://www.masslive.com/republican/index.ssf
Brain injured girl's guardian sues adoptive mother's estate
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(Original Ohioan from Florida's ping list, update to September 22.)
Terri on the road to recovery before the second stage began.