MONTICELLO- The tragic death of 16-month-old Akasha Luvert from a fentanyl overdose not only shocked the small Sullivan County community of Liberty but also sparked a dispute between then Acting District Attorney Brian Conaty and then County Attorney Michael McGuire over whether or not county officials could have done more to prevent her death.
Luvert’s mother, 26-year-old Lisa Keitt, and father, 41-year-old Jimmy Luvert, were both charged with manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child following her death.
Before the tragedy, the family was under the supervision of the county’s Child Protective Services (CPS) and according to documents, had been visited by CPS workers just hours before her death.
Following Luvert’s death, on May 18, 2023, Conaty held a news conference where he accused McGuire of failing to protect Luvert.
“I learned that CPS questioned the removal of these children on three separate occasions and when CPS brought these concerns to their legal branch, the county attorney’s office, the county attorney himself, Mike McGuire, refused to institute removal proceedings as requested,” Conaty said. “It was further learned under his regime he created a culture of widespread apathy that has discouraged the workers from bringing forth appropriate requests to remove children.”
Days later, on May 25, 2023, McGuire held a news conference of his own, refuting Conaty’s accusations and noting that members of the DSS had an obligation under the law to remove the children and place them in protective custody, regardless of what he or his office may think.
“Mr. Conaty’s comments were callous, misleading and demonstrate a level of poise and demeanor incongruent with one who seeks to hold the office of district attorney in this or any county,” said McGuire. “I am compelled however to respond to the reckless and disgraceful comments by Brian Conaty last week in which he attempted to politicize the death of an 18-month-old child and in doing so, provided false and misleading information in an effort to cast blame upon my office for causing the death of this child.”
Since their dueling press conferences and war of words began, Conaty has been elected District Attorney and has begun serving his first full term. McGuire is no longer County Attorney, as his term of office expired on December 31, 2023.
In the months following their exchange, Conaty presented the matter to a grand jury. His office recently reported the findings of the grand jury, which recommended sweeping changes in the way CPS cases are handled in the county.
Conaty’s grand jury report doubles-down on his May 2023 statement that on three separate occasions CPS workers requested McGuire’s office remove Luvert and her younger sibling from their parents.
McGuire maintains this is not true, and provided his notes, email exchanges, and text message records to Mid-Hudson News to support his position.
In one such text message exchange, sent to McGuire in the early morning hours the day after Luvert’s death, a county Department of Social Services (DSS) director seemingly confirmed that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to request a removal.
“We had workers in their (sic) yesterday. These parents were just in compliance enough going to methadone treatment daily. Every service… baby was withdrawal at hospital, but since she had her 1.5 year old at home they were in treatment, we didn’t have enough for removal. Heading in early to print every for state,” wrote the director.
The following day, May 4, 2023, the same DSS official and McGuire exchanged emails where again the director seemingly acknowledged there wasn’t sufficient evidence to request a removal of the children.
“Unfortunately the system, laws, methadone clinic and regulations surrounding it, did not lend us to having enough for a petition to get in front of a judge. OCFS thus far hasn’t found fault in procedure but questions why we didn’t file a petition. I explained we did consult but did not have enough,” the director wrote.
The grand jury report indicates that the three removals were requested before Luvert’s death, but McGuire maintains that is not true. His notes indicate that CPS’ investigations into claims of inadequate guardianship were unfounded in the days leading up to all of the alleged removal requests, and that it was the CPS workers themselves who closed the cases without consulting with his office. He provided volumes of emails, not one of which requested a removal.
The notes provided by McGuire did however detail concerns about the Luvert’s family that stretched back more than a year before the child’s death. McGuire’s records, which largely align with details of the grand jury report, outlined extensive history of substance abuse, medical neglect, and insufficient supervision. McGuire noted that while concerning, CPS workers lacked sufficient evidence for his office to petition a court for removal.
McGuire’s emails also contained correspondence with Social Services Commissioner John Liddle that seemingly expressed Liddle’s satisfaction with the work of the County Attorney’s Office and general agreement with respect to the approach on cases. While Liddle’s email was not specific to Luvert’s case, it does challenge the grand jury findings that indicate the County Attorney’s Office was poorly representing CPS.
In a February 2023 email, Liddle wrote, “I also get concerned that depending on the caseworker, CPS cases are getting under or over sold to you for action and since the only case I’ve ever disagreed with your position on was the “Doe” case I feel like I can and should play more of a role in screening cases that don’t need your attention and fast tracking those that do.”
This correspondence from the commissioner stands in contrast to the findings of the grand jury report which state: “Sadly, the quality of legal representation provided to DSS has stood between DSS, CPS, and their obligation to protect the children of this county. This has endangered many lives and the lack of cooperation with DSS and CPS, their workers, and their administrators clearly showed that their legal representation was not representing their interests.”
The volumes of emails and text messages, totaling in the thousands, provided by McGuire for review by Mid-Hudson News appeared not to support the claim that a hostile relationship existed between CPS, DSS, and the County Attorney’s office.
The Sullivan County grand jury was not the only body to investigate Luvert’s death. Whenever the death of a child for whom there is an open preventative service case, the state Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) is mandated to conduct an investigation and issue an examination of actions taken by individual caseworkers and supervisors.
Unlike the grand jury report, which found fault exclusively with the County Attorney’s Office, the OCFS report lists a series of required actions on the part of CPS. The findings, among other deficiencies, included failure to monitor, inadequacy of CPS caseworker contacts, and failure to complete, document, and monitor a Plan of Safe Care on the part of county workers. The report also indicates that DSS workers should conference with their legal department and consider whether or not court action is necessary.
McGuire said that he believes certain employees and officials at the county’s DSS made inaccurate or false statements regarding Luvert’s death to the grand jury and that the grand jury presentation intentionally did not include evidence he had in his possession, that was offered to Conaty, to steer it’s conclusions to a predetermined outcome. McGuire thinks county officials are attempting to cover their actions by placing the full blame on the office of the County Attorney rather than acknowledge the findings of the state’s report, which was released months before the grand jury’s report.
When asked where the breakdown occurred, McGuire didn’t mince words about who he believes is ultimately responsible.
“DSS officials, and in particular Commissioner Liddle, had a legal obligation to remove the child and her sibling from their parent’s care if he believed they were in danger. That is not the responsibility of the County Attorney, nor does the County Attorney have the authority to do so. To say this child’s death could have been prevented is true, and the responsibility to act would have been that of Commissioner Liddle,” said McGuire.
Conaty has a news conference scheduled for Thursday, where he plans to discuss the details and findings of the grand jury’s report.
