Tyler woman pleads guilty to injuring special needs child

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - A Tyler woman accused of recklessly injuring a special needs child will avoid immediate jailtime after pleading guilty Friday.

Jessica Renee Fowler, 36, was arrested in March 2022 for causing injury to a young child who Fowler provided nighttime care for. Fowler was a registered nurse at the time, and her arrest affidavit made the case that she caused intentional injury to the child. In Judge Austin Jackson’s court on Friday, Fowler pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of reckless injury. Jackson deferred adjudication for one year.

In the original case, the mother had a nurse practitioner check the child after discovering an injury to her right arm. While she waited, she went through videos captured by the NEST camera that was in the child’s room. She then said that she saw Fowler abusing the child during the night on the video, by tying her arm behind her back in bed, by dropping her legs forcefully during diaper changes, which affected the child’s hips, and by extending her arm out on the crib mattress, placing a pillow over the arm, and pressing down forcefully on it to hurt the child. She did other harmful things to cause Jane pain, as well, according to the arrest affidavit. Her demeanor showed disdain for Jane and annoyance with her, the affidavit said.

Fowler was arrested on March 7, 2022, on a bond of $200,000, and bonded out the same day.

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