Appeals court: State may be liable for boy's death

ATLANTA - A federal appeals court has ruled the state may be liable for the 1998 death of a 5-year-old Atlanta boy whose beating and starvation led to Georgia child welfare reforms. <br> <br> The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a ruling by a federal judge who said the state did not control the care of Terrell Peterson or the actions of his guardian because he was never officially in state custody. <br> <br> The appeals court ordered a lower federal court to look into whether the state had sufficient control of Terrell to be liable for his well-being. <br> <br> ``The proper test is whether the state had dominion and control over the child&#39;s life and the extent of that domination and control,&#39;&#39; the appeals court said in its ruling Friday. <br> <br> Terrell died Jan. 15, 1998. Doctors found his 29-pound body covered with lacerations and bruises so many, they said, that they could not determine an exact cause of death. <br> <br> The boy and his siblings were the subjects of eight reports of neglect or abuse to Fulton County over several years, but the agency had failed to take action on the reports. <br> <br> Atlanta attorney Don Keenan, who sued the state Division of Family and Children Services, said he hopes the appeals court ruling will help other children under the control of the agency. <br> <br> ``For 15 years there has been this tremendous gap of thousands of kids who are not taken into custody but who are in fact controlled by the state,&#39;&#39; he said. ``The court is not saying custody is the test. The test is control. That opens up to thousands of kids constitutional rights that they never had.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Ted Hall, who represented the state, said he believed the ruling was insignificant. <br> <br> ``It&#39;s really a procedural type of reversal, sending it back down so that discovery can be done on the issue of dominion and control,&#39;&#39; he said. <br> <br> In 2000, the Legislature passed two laws aimed at reforming the system. <br> <br> One allows doctors to take temporary protective custody of children they believe are being neglected or abused even before police officers, caseworkers or social workers get involved. <br> <br> The second creates an independent state watchdog office with power to investigate and intervene in child abuse cases. <br> <br> Terrell&#39;s grandmother, Pharina Peterson, has been sentenced to life in prison without parole. She admitted to eight counts against her, including murder and cruelty to children.