Staff Reports
Jury selection in the trial of a Crothersville man accused of neglect in the death of his 8-year-old son in the summer of 2018 has been completed.
The trial of Curtis G. Collman II is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. Monday in Jackson Circuit Court in Brownstown.
Besides the Level 1 felony count of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, the 43-year-old Crothersville man also faces a Level 5 felony charge of intimidation with a deadly weapon, a Level 4 felony charge of possession of methamphetamine between 10 and 28 grams and Class A misdemeanor charges of theft and pointing a firearm at another person.
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Jackson County Prosecutor Jeff Chalfant and Collman’s court-appointed attorney, Brian Chastain of Corydon, spent Monday questioning two separate pools of jury candidates to hear the case involving the death of Curtis Collman III.
A toxicology report revealed the boy had 180 times the lethal limit of methamphetamine in his bloodstream when he died June 21, 2018.
That report showed the boy had 18,000 nanograms of methamphetamine in his bloodstream and a lethal amount is 100 nanograms, former Jackson County Detective Tom Barker said at the time.
The boy died at Schneck Medical Center in Seymour after police were called to his grandparents’ rural Crothersville home. The boy had been in the care of his father, who had custody.
Police said the boy had spent the night of June 20, 2018, with his father at his home in the Seymour area.
At some point during that stay, the boy told his father he was hungry, and his father told him there was no food and returned to sleep, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Police also said methamphetamine on a glass plate was found in the home, and one officer said it could have been mistaken for cereal crumbs in the home’s poor lighting, according to court records.
The child ingested the methamphetamine and became ill sometime on the morning of June 21, police said.
Collman, who took the boy to his grandparents’ home, never sought medical treatment for the boy and tried to prevent others from calling 911 to help him, according to court documents. A family friend eventually made the 911 call.
Upon conviction, a Level 1 felony is punishable by a sentence between 20 and 40 years with an advisory sentence of 30 years.
Selection of the 12 jurors and two alternates started Monday with six selected from a pool of potential jurors during a morning session and the remainder picked from a different pool of jurors during an afternoon session.
Jackson Circuit Court Judge Richard W. Poynter told the potential jurors the selection process was put in place to help provide social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said there have been several trials in Jackson Circuit Court since COVID-19 restrictions have eased, and it is one of the few places where trials have been conducted.