Father lashes out at hearing<br /><br />Bradley May is angry at sentence given to Judith Noe in the drowning of their 2-year-old child.<br /><br />By Mike Dooley<br /><br />mdooley@news-sentinel.com<br /><br /><br />If no one gets to her in five years, then I will.<br /><br />That was the chilling promise Bradley May made Monday after the mother of his 2-year-old daughter, Brieana Noe, was handed an eight-year sentence for drowning the child last summer.<br /><br />Allen Superior Judge John Surbeck had just begun to explain the sentence when May stood and walked quickly from the courtroom. See you in five years, he said, an apparent reference to Surbecks order that Judith Noe be sentenced to serve five years of the eight-year term after pleading guilty but mentally ill to a charge of reckless homicide.<br /><br />Later, in a hallway outside the courtroom, May insisted the sentence was too light. Everyone dropped the ball on this, May said. Its not going to be all right as long as the person who killed my daughter is living, breathing and walking.<br /><br />The sentence means Noe must go to prison for at least 2 1/2 years, then must serve three years on probation. During that time, Surbeck said she must undergo treatment as part of a program at Park Center, a community mental-health center in Fort Wayne.<br /><br />That program can include inpatient care, but Noe would be permitted to come and go from the center as long as she meets its requirements, psychologist Stephen Ross said. Ross and two other mental health professionals examined Noe before she entered her guilty plea, and all three said while she could assist in her defense at a trial, they believed she was insane at the time of the crime.<br /><br />Noe admitted wrapping the child in a shower curtain June 19, then holding her under the running water of a shower head until the girl drowned. She kept the body in her Brighton Meadows apartment for nearly three weeks before it was discovered.<br /><br />During that time, Noe had her other children dress and attempt to feed the corpse, according to the Child Protective Services file the state released last fall.<br /><br />Several of Noes relatives spoke on her behalf, describing her as a loving mother and asking Surbeck to craft a sentence that would allow her to receive treatment for her mental illness. While Noe had originally insisted Brieana was not dead and would return to her, defense attorney Michelle Kraus said she now realizes she was responsible for the childs death, and misses her daughter as much as anybody in the courtroom.<br /><br />May said he wanted to speak for 30 minutes, the same amount of time physicians told him his daughter was held under the shower head before she died. He told the judge in court that Noe faced the wrong charge. It was premeditated murder, he said at one point during his 24-minute presentation. She killed Brieana and she did it on Fathers Day to get back at me and show me who was in charge.<br /><br />May said he and Noe were involved in court proceedings to establish his visitation with the child, and said he had warned authorities his daughter might be in danger at her mothers hands. I went through this useless system begging for people to help, he said. Nobody did nothing.<br /><br />Cynthia Penn Amber, the childs court-appointed guardian, testified she never saw any indication Brieana was in danger of any physical harm.<br /><br />Ross said the mental health treatment Noe can receive at Park Center after her release from prison involves medication and therapy sessions. Im convinced there was a mental illness that played a big role in this, Ross told Surbeck. I dont know what would happen if it goes untreated.<br /><br />Surbeck said Noes participation in the program will be mandatory, and told her if she does not fulfill its requirements, she will go back to prison. The program lasts for two years, meaning if Noe completes it, professionals will have another year to determine if she can function without the treatment.<br /><br />Deputy Prosecutor Patricia Pikel asked the judge to consider Brieanas age, the chance Noe might commit another crime and the risk Noe poses to the community in determining the sentence. Noe, Pikel said, could be a danger if she fails to take part in the treatment or stops taking medications.<br /><br />After the hearing, deputy Prosecutor Steve Godfrey defended the sentence as probably the best the state could get under the circumstances. There were three doctors who were going to testify she was insane, Godfrey said. Thats difficult if not impossible to overcome.
