Law&Crime Sidebar - Florida Mom Screwed Nail into Daughter’s Buttocks with Electric Drill: Cops

Episode Date: August 4, 2024

Deputies in Pinellas County, Florida say Jaclyn Goszczynski, 40, used a drill to push a nail into her daughter’s backside, leaving an obvious mark when the girl pulled it out. Goszczynski is now charged with child abuse. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber digs into the strange case and the potential consequences with Florida attorney Roger P. Foley.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:You can binge this season, American Scandal: Teapot Dome, early and ad-free right now on Wondery Plus and by going to our link Wondery.fm/lcsidebar!HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A Florida mom is accused of abusing her daughter in an uncommon and disturbing way. By drilling a screw or nail directly into the girl's body, we are digging into this strange case and the potential consequences with Florida attorney Roger P. Foley. Welcome to the sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime, I'm Jesse Weber. Deputies in Pinellas County, Florida, arrested 40-year-old Jacqueline Gashinsky, also known as Jacqueline Hutchinson, last week at her St. Petersburg home on a charge of child abuse.

According to an arrest warrant, Gashinsky and three kids were hanging picture frames when Gishinsky allegedly walked up to her 12-year-old daughter and, asked her, have you ever been screwed in the A word? We're not going to say it, but you know what I mean. And that is when Gashinsky allegedly puts an electric screwdriver to her daughter's left butt cheek, presses down on the trigger, and pushes, it's either a screw or a nail directly into her daughter's skin. Yeah, imagine seeing the headline of this. I was just shocked as you were. Now, according to the affidavit, quote, the screw was stuck in the victim's buttock cheek until she took it out. And as you would expect, the screw left a visible mark on the girl's skin. Now, because this is a child abuse case, all the court records have been sealed

and the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office didn't release any other information. So we have limited to work with here. What we do know is that Kaczynski was booked into jail, posted a $25,000 bond. I want to bring in Florida attorney Roger P. Foley to talk about this. Roger has experience dealing with child abuse cases, unfortunately. Roger, as I said, it's been a minute. I haven't seen you in a while. I don't know why you're avoiding me. I'm very insulted. I don't know what I did to you, but it's good to see you nonetheless. Thanks for coming on. Good to see you, Jesse. Now, before we get started, you were telling me, you tried to look up information about this case and hit a dead end. I did this morning. I went up there and I was able to,

I was able to find her name, but the record itself was sealed. So sometimes the clerk of court will place the docket number or the information on there, but they haven't uploaded all the items. could be it usually three four or five days after i can pull a police reports public record you could do it just as easy as your followers on online here i want to ask you about this charge so under florida statute and correct me from wrong the crime of child abuse is defined as an intentional act that causes or could reasonably reasonably be expected to cause physical or mental injury to a child and she could face up to five years in prison if she's convicted of this i think we can all agree this pattern fits into this, right? I mean, I don't know what would they have to prove other than,

I don't know, medical report, uh, the, this young girl's testimony. I think it's pretty clear that that's what it is, right? Until you see that police report, you don't know 100%, Jesse, but the notices that we looked at, the broadcast indicated there was a mark, right? If a screw went in, I would think it would puncture. And she may even be looking at a second degree felt. So it's definitely a third-degree felony, but I can't imagine anywhere where this is okay. You know, what I instantly think about is, I think about is it mental illness?

Was she drinking? Was she under an influence? How could you do this to your own child? And myself, being a victim of child abuse as a child, I can't help but think about the situation that this young lady is in, right? She's 12 years old. Her mom, her superwoman, woman has has just harmed her and if she's arrested if she's jailed if she's

imprisoned where does this this young lady go where do the other kids go I don't know if there's you know is there a father in the picture is there family members or is she going to end up in foster care and you know that could be a wonderful situation you know for someone or it could be a horrible situation you just never know so you know my first thoughts about this talking about this case is the young lady she's 12 years old and your mom did this to you, it's sad to me. Hey, everybody, I want to take a quick sidebar from sidebar to tell you guys about

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She hasn't been found guilty. But I would imagine something like this could be pled out. In other words, there could be a plea deal. on the table? What would a deal like that even look like? Generally, there's going to be parenting classes. She's probably looking at, again, it really depends on this wound, right? Did she literally drill the screw into her, which could obviously cause physical damage? And then you have injury points, right? So your score sheet, your Florida score sheet can be increased. It's already one of those crimes, Jesse, that you just

everybody in the system from the prosecutor to the judge to the defense attorney everyone is like hey this is a dark place but they have to handle it generally speaking if she had no prior criminal history if it wasn't a deep wound she's probably looking at three to five years of probation parenting classes and probably children and family's going to be involved and there's going she's not going to have have uh supervision she's probably going to have to have supervised supervision with their child and children. So this doesn't just stop at the criminal courts, the family courts get involved. I'm glad you mentioned that because I think we're all wondering, like you said, what would happen with her and the kids. By the way, in terms of a defense, if she says, hey, listen, I wasn't trying to hurt her. It was just joking. It was just joking. Is that any way that's a defense? Well, it's not a defense in a trial. It is a part of humanizing your client, right? So any time a defense attorney gets involved in a case, we contact case filing, case intake. And that's the person who looks at all the facts, the police reports, the video,

the testimony from possibly the other kids or any other witnesses, the victim. And even though there are 12, it's video recorded. So that case file is going to look at that. Now, as a defense attorney, myself, other people, we would speak to the defendant. We would get their version of events because that's not in the police report. And then we would try to humanize. So if it was something joking and playing around and there's a mark, but it's not actually penetrating the skin, well, that could be a different story. And that's why everyone is innocent until proving guilty in this country, but you have to look at those things and you have to go through that process. And do you think this could be upgraded or another charge could be tacked on? Let me let me tell

why I say that. So I looked up aggravated child abuse and child abuse, aggravated child abuse occurs when a person, A, commits aggravated battery on a child, B, willfully tortures, maliciously punishes or willfully and unlawfully cages a child, or C, knowingly or willfully abuses a child and in so doing causes great bodily harm, permanent disability or permanent disfigurement to the child. Now, some of that doesn't apply in this case, but some of it, I feel, does. Now, A, do you think that this would be aggravated child abuse, which my understanding is, what, 30 years in prison could be the max? Or is this also a situation where even if it does fit, the prosecutors wouldn't want to go that far. But you tell me. Well, I thought it was a second,

Jesse. I thought it was a punchable by 15 years. You may have spent being corrected there. But I think that it's a possibility that you could call it aggravated child abuse. If she punctured the skin and there's no doubt you don't do that accidentally. This isn't an accident. It. This is an intentional act, whether done jokingly or I can't imagine any world where a mother, right, a mother would do this to a child. It's what I think that if that young lady goes to the, it went to the hospital. I don't know how that screws in there. But if she's got a permanent scar, right, that's disfigurement. Granted, you know, it's on her rear end. But I think it could fit those elements. And I think that a defense counsel could be facing and having to fight from second degree. But would would prosecutors want to do that here? Would they want to get that aggressive with it? It's a terrible act.

And my gosh, it's harmed to a child, but you even mentioned it before, you know, what is in the best interest of the children here? So that, you know, that's a great question. I'm glad you asked it, Jesse, because the best interest of a child isn't always with its mother and father, right? If you, if you have an abuse, you have addiction, you have mental health issues, the best interest of the child is in a place where they are safe, where they are sheltered, where they are clothed, where they are fed, and where they are loved and nourished

in an environment that allows them to elevate and turn into, you know, young men and young women. If you have someone that's sticking a drill in your rear end and literally physically putting a screw in there, we don't have a Florida's not that place. Mom was not going to have custody and the best interest of those children is not going to be with mom. And so I wouldn't be surprised if she's ultimately the charge is upgraded to that based on what we know and what we could see. But, you know, we did some digging on Gashinsky. And we uncovered there was a prior criminal case in Pinellas County that appears to have been dropped. We go back to September 4th, 2008. Gishinsky was charged with battery in the first degree, which my

understanding is a misdemeanor. But then just a month later, the arraignment was canceled. There were no other updates in the online court system. So it's unclear what that charge was in connection. to, but Roger, what I think is really interesting about this is that I was wondering, because I'm wondering if she could be hit with any other charges, if she could be charged with felony battery with what she allegedly did with her daughter, because my understanding is felony battery is you actually and intentionally touch or strike another person against the will of the other, or you too intentionally cause bodily harm to another person. And my understanding is that is usually a misdemeanor, but it can be upgraded to felony

battery, third degree, if they have a prior conviction for battery. But again, if she doesn't have the conviction for battery, just the accusation of battery, that wouldn't work, right? Correct, because she doesn't have a conviction of it. So even though the judge would be aware of the arrest, but they would also be aware that it was no filed or declined, no information was filed. But the important thing to know, Jesse, is aggravated battery generally is the generally, is the touching or striking of another person with an object. If I throw a pen at you and it hits you, it's aggravated battery. Now, do prosecutors usually file for that?

No, but if you throw a rocket somebody and it hits them or a chair or a table or a vase, those are tend to be aggravated battery. If someone hits you with a bat, it's aggravated battery. If someone screws a screw into your body, that would generally be deemed aggravated battery. By the way, every time we mention it, what happened, it's still, you know, just shocking to me. And I'll just give everybody a little bit more information on Gushinsky, according to business records. It appears she ran a taco truck at one point with her husband called the Taco Slapper. The food truck's Facebook page shows them traveling around Florida to serve food, but this is clearly not the kind of publicity they were looking for, more specifically she was looking for.

Wow, what a case. Roger Foley. Thanks so much for coming on. telling us a little bit about Florida law and what to expect and appreciate always you sharing your perspective and your experiences thank you so much thank you sir have a great day that's all we have for you right now here on sidebar everybody thank you so much for joining us and as always please subscribe on apple podcast spotify youtube wherever you get your podcast i'm jesse weber speak to you next time

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