Crime, Law Schools

2-Year-Old Dies Tragically; Law Student Arrested For Murder

Allegations that have shocked a law school community.

By  
on

Last Friday an Emory Law student, Jennifer Rosenbaum, was arrested for murder, aggravated assault, child cruelty in the second degree and two counts of child cruelty in the first degree, for the death of 2-year-old Laila Marie Daniel, who was a foster child in Rosenbaum’s care.

Also arrested was her husband, Joseph Rosenbaum, on two counts of child cruelty. According to the arrest affidavit, Laila was regularly starved and beaten, from June 13th to the time of her death on November 17th. Jennifer Rosenbaum is accused of hitting the child so hard in the abdomen that her pancreas was transected.

According to People Magazine, Rosenbaum is making the argument that she wasn’t responsible for the child’s injuries:

Jennifer Rosenbaum’s attorney, Corrine Mull, tells PEOPLE that Laila’s injuries may have been caused by former foster parents. “It happens more than we know in foster parent circles because you don’t know the history of foster children you’re given,” Mull says.

Mull says that the Rosenbaums began caring for Laila on July 24, and the affidavit states that Laila’s injuries began on June 13. Says Mull, “It’s a matter of dating the injuries and determining how much are old injuries done by older foster parents.”

She also says that Rosenbaum attempted to resuscitate Laila, which she says could have caused the bruising and transected pancreas referenced in the affidavit.

These allegations have shocked those who know Rosenbaum. In addition to being a law student, she had political ambitions and had recently announced her candidacy for Georgia’s Henry County Board of Commission. She was previously a military police officer and worked for State Rep. Mike Dudgeon in 2014. Dudgeon told People, “There’s nothing in my experience that would have ever foreshadowed this.”

An Emory classmate of Rosenbaum’s shared this perspective with us:

I’m sending this because I saw Jennifer looking distraught on Thursday that week with the Dean of Students when they pulled my professor out to talk. When I looked at my calendar for the date of the incident, I saw via Facebook birthday sync it was Rosenbaum’s birthday the same day. She has since deleted all of her social media accounts (except for Twitter, I believe). A lot of students were aware she was fostering kids. She once referred to them as her own children in class, which came off strange to me.

Sponsored

Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragedy.

Emory University Law Student and Political Candidate Charged with Allegedly Murdering Foster Daughter [People]

Sponsored

Topics

, , , , , , , , , ,