By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A Shelby County Circuit Court Judge will decide on Sept. 24 if he will allow a woman charged with allegedly causing brain damage to her infant son to have supervised visitation with the child.

Judge Dan Reeves will decide during a Sept. 24 hearing at 8:30 a.m. if he will allow Caitlin Gregory Lunceford, who lists an address in the 500 block of Windsor Court in Alabaster, to have supervised visits with the child, who is now 10 months old.

The Alabaster Police Department arrested Lunceford on Jan. 23 and charged her with one count of aggravated child abuse, a Class B felony.

According to her arrest warrant, Lunceford allegedly did “strike and/or shake” her child, who was about 2 months old and in her care at the time of the incident. The warrant claimed Lunceford caused “brain damage” to the infant.

In February, Lunceford requested a previous court order denying her contact with her child be lifted, and requested she be allowed supervised visitation for one hour three nights per week.

Along with the order requesting supervised visitation, Lunceford’s attorneys, Barry and Lara McCauley Alvis, also filed the results of a polygraph test Lunceford took on Feb. 19 with Sprayberry Polygraph Investigations.

During the test, the polygraphist, Jesse Sprayberry, asked Lunceford if she caused any of the infant’s injuries, if she deliberately injured the child in any way or if she ever lost her temper and injured the child. Lunceford answered “no” to all three questions, according to Sprayberry.

“In the present case … evaluation of the test charts determined that deception was not attempted to the relevant questions,” Sprayberry wrote. “In my opinion, Ms. Lunceford answered the questions truthfully.”

In a motion filed on Sept. 15, Lunceford’s attorneys, Barry and Lara Alvis, again requested Lunceford be granted supervised visitation with the child, claiming “The failure of the child to spend time with its mother can create significant long-term adverse consequences with the child.”

“The mother is requesting supervised visitation with her father who is a retired Marine and is ready, willing and able to supervise said visitation or any other suitable person,” read the Sept. 15 motion.