Murder suspect Joy O'Shea Woomer is not a career criminal.

The East Hempfield resident is a 20-year licensed practical nurse and mother of two who served dual roles as program director and music coordinator at Holy Spirit Lutheran Church.

But prosecutors said "interviews and tests" conducted recently compelled them on Oct. 7 to charge Woomer with homicide in the 2002 death of a chronically ill child who was under her care.

The Lancaster district attorney charged Woomer with criminal homicide in the death of Brent Weaver, an 11-year-old boy who died Sept. 27, 2002, of a morphine overdose.

Prosecutors allege Woomer, now 48, had the opportunity and means to commit such a crime: As a nurse, she had access to morphine, and Brent was in her care at the Weavers' East Hempfield home on Christian Lane. Brent was not prescribed to take morphine, they have said, and Woomer wasn't authorized to dispense the drug to him.

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Those details aren't new.

What is new is that after six years the Lancaster district attorney's office now apparently believes it can convince a jury that Woomer had a motive to kill a helpless child.

Chris Patterson, Woomer's attorney, has had little to say about the indictment, except that it's "unusual" that it took six years and that the prosecution's case has "holes."

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District Attorney Craig Stedman — who took office in January — said he knew nothing about the child's death until a few months ago.

Judge Donald Totaro, who was district attorney at the time of Brent's murder, said former Assistant District Attorney Heidi Eakin handled the case until January, when she left the DA's office. Totaro said Eakin felt the case required more work to bring an indictment.

"Heidi Eakin worked closely with law enforcement and medical experts on the case until leaving office, and she believed additional investigating was necessary before charges could be filed," Totaro said Tuesday.

For his part, Stedman said he "cannot control the past" and had no comment about how the prior administration handled the case.

"All I can say is once I found out about the case this year, we promptly took what we believe were appropriate steps and filed the charges," Stedman said. "Our focus at this point is to move forward in the pursuit of justice for Brent Weaver."

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Holy Spirit Pastor Rev. Jonathan Jenkins said the church was stunned when Woomer was arrested and taken to Lancaster County Prison seven weeks ago.

He said he remembered meeting with Woomer the day after Weaver's death.

"She was just devastated and heartbroken," Jenkins said. "She couldn't understand what had happened."

Jenkins said Woomer was dedicated to the church and brought her two children to Sunday services regularly. Her children are now in the care of a relative. She has lost her nursing license and must sell her home to cover legal expenses.

 Woomer is incapable of murder, Jenkins said.

"I know people always say this kind of thing," Jenkins said, "but this is impossible, given her personality, given her character. It is not possible."

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Brent was born prematurely May 13, 1991, to Carol and Mark Weaver. Carol Weaver said that by the time Brent reached 5 weeks old, they thought he might have cerebral palsy.

"Pretty much that was confirmed as he grew," Carol Weaver said recently. "We could tell that there were differences: slow development in some areas, difficulties in feeding. … But he was basically a happy little guy and a lot of fun."

Though Brent had cerebral palsy, a seizure disorder and spastic paraplegia, which required him to use a feeding tube, he "was not terminally ill," Carol Weaver said.

"He didn't talk, but that doesn't mean he couldn't communicate," she said. "He did that quite well, actually. He was a regular kid but unfortunately with a handicap."

He died the month his special sixth-grade classes began at Reidenbaugh Elementary School in Manheim Township, to which a nurse would accompany him.

Brent loved school, Carol Weaver said, especially music class. He loved being around other kids, she said, and was a member of Calvary Church, where he attended Sunday school.

"I know that I loved this boy dearly," Carol Weaver said. "He was the dearest person you'd ever want to meet."

She said Brent had become "happy and comfortable" and was finally recovering from back surgery to correct a curvature of his spine on July 2, 2002, at DuPont Hospital in Wilmington, Del. She said Brent's seizures had "basically stopped" and that the family planned to wean him off his seizure medicine beginning in October 2002.

"It was a neat little turnaround," Carol Weaver said. "He really turned around into someone I didn't know. I was just getting to know him. He was doing so well."

She said that given Brent's improvements –– similar patients "live to be 50- and 60-year-olds" — to regard his death as a possible "mercy killing" at Woomer's hands seems even more senseless.

She maintains that Woomer is guilty.

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Stedman and Assistant District Attorney Karen Mansfield, who is handling the court proceedings, have so far declined to say what Woomer's alleged motive might have been.

Stedman specifically rejected any discussion about a "mercy killing."

"A jury of 12 will be the finder of fact in this case, based on the evidence in the courtroom and the instructions of law from the judge — as it should be," Stedman said. "Until then she is presumed innocent."

Prosecutors so far have revealed no physical evidence of Woomer having given Brent morphine or that she had the drug in her possession.

But, because the charge is criminal homicide — and district court judges in Pennsylvania cannot set bail in such cases — Woomer remains in jail.

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The Rev. Jenkins said a major hurdle prosecutors face is explaining why Woomer would kill a patient who was new to her care.

The day Brent died, Woomer was substituting for Brent's regular nurse for the first time, working the midnight-to-7 a.m. shift, when prosecutors allege she gave him a lethal dose of morphine.

"Do they think Joy thought, 'Just in case I want to kill somebody, I better bring some morphine with me,'!\p " Jenkins said. "!\p 'And I'm going to be sure and frame myself and be there as an obvious suspect in killing a person I barely know.'!\p "

Woomer's family members and Jenkins say the lack of familiarity between nurse and patient should create enough reasonable doubt to warrant her release on bail. She will learn at a preliminary hearing Monday whether the DA will make the charges more specific.

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Stedman could charge Woomer with first- or even third-degree murder, which would allow her to seek bail.

But, Stedman has given no signal that he might reduce the charge of criminal homicide against Woomer. If he doesn't, she'll remain in jail until her trial, which could be several months away.

"She is already charged with criminal homicide," Stedman said. "First-degree murder is a possible verdict from that charge and included as part of that charge and is the only one which requires premeditation."

Woomer also is charged with drug delivery and drug delivery resulting in death.

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Mansfield inherited the case and, along with county Detective Joseph Geesey, aggressively renewed the investigation into Brent's death.

Carol Weaver said she used Bayada Nurses of Lancaster five days a week from midnight to 7 a.m. so she could get a break. At the time, she was caring for two other young sons in addition to Brent, who would get up and need attention "two or three times" during the night.

Woomer, who was working for Bayada Nurses at the time, substituted for the regular overnight nurse Sept. 27, 2002. According to court records, Woomer said Brent had been restless throughout the night. She alerted the Weavers around 6 a.m. that Brent was unresponsive.

An autopsy concluded Brent was given morphine between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. — a period when Woomer had "sole custody" of Brent, investigators said.

A police affidavit states Carol and Mark Weaver were asleep, and no one else came into contact with Brent during the overnight hours. They said Brent was never prescribed morphine, but he was pronounced dead that morning after paramedics rushed him to the hospital.

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The Weavers filed a civil suit against Bayada Nurses in Philadelphia April 12, 2004. After months of legal maneuvers, a judge on May 17, 2006, approved a petition by Bayada's attorneys to move the case to Lancaster County Court.

On June 25, 2007, the Weavers agreed to a settlement with Bayada, the details of which were sealed Sept. 4, 2007, by Judge Jay Hoberg.

Edward R. Kennett, attorney for the Weavers, declined to comment on the settlement. Mark Bayada, president of Bayada Nurses, also declined to comment on the settlement.

Stedman said the civil suit had no bearing on his office's decision to bring charges six years after Brent's death.

Although it's unclear whether it was a factor in the decision to charge Woomer, on the day before her arrest CEO of Hospice of Lancaster County Steven Knoub told Geesey "it was possible for a nurse to pilfer morphine in 2002."

Jenkins said he would be shocked to find out that such a general statement from Knoub would compel prosecutors to charge Woomer.

He said he was not laying blame on the DA's office per se, but he said prosecutors have been heavy handed. He said Woomer was handcuffed and shackled with no notice before her arrest.

"She barely had time to arrange for someone to be there after school (for her daughter)," Jenkins said.

"In prison, Joy spent the first three days in isolation," Jenkins said. "I don't see any way that this kind of treatment can be justified. What do they do when they finally find she is not guilty? How does she get her reputation back?"

E-mail: pburns@lnpnews.com