Woman accepts perjury sentence

Monroe testified at Bacon’s murder trial

6/26/2014
BY JENNIFER FEEHAN
BLADE STAFF WRITER

Peggy Monroe said she was just trying to do the right thing when she testified earlier this year at the aggravated-murder trial of a Toledo mother charged with killing her infant son.

The former Toledo woman told the court a man with whom she lived in 2003 — the same man who murder suspect Amanda Bacon lived with — had broken her young son’s arm. She admitted she signed a sworn affidavit at the time saying he had not caused the injury, but said on the witness stand that she’d lied when she signed the document.

On Thursday, Monroe, 33, of Aurora, Colo., pleaded no contest to perjury, a third-degree felony. Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Gary Cook imposed the agreed-upon sentence: a year of inactive probation she may serve in Colorado.

Monroe, a mother of eight children, said afterward the risk she took testifying in Bacon’s trial was not worth the trouble it caused her.

“I was trying to be a Good Samaritan and help her out, but it didn’t work the way I wanted it to,” she said.

Monroe entered into the plea agreement, she said, because she “wanted to get this over with.” Her attorney, Thomas Szyperski, told the court her record had been clear until now, and the agreed-upon sentence was fair under the circumstances.

Bacon, 26, was convicted by a jury in April of murder and endangering children in the Dec. 18, 2012, death of her 6-month-old son, Avery Glynn Bacon. She smashed his head against a hard surface so forcefully his skull was irreparably damaged. She is now serving a life sentence in prison with parole eligibility after 15 years.

During Bacon’s trial, defense attorneys pointed the finger at Frank Jones, with whom Bacon and her son had been living at the time of his fatal injury. Monroe, who did not know Bacon, backed up that theory, testifying that Mr. Jones had tossed her son to the floor in 2003, breaking his arm.

Although Mr. Jones was not charged in either case, Judge Frederick McDonald allowed Monroe to testify, saying the jury should be able to hear and weigh what she had to say.

Contact Jennifer Feehan at: jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.