HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- The three suspects charged in connection with the death of a 1-month-old were all in court together for the first time on Monday. The baby's parents and their roommate were all charged after baby L.C. died at a Motel 6 in Henrico in June.  Photos from inside the mo tel room were shown in court on Monday, Oct. 26, and medical experts, Child Protective Services and law enforcement investigators testified. The purpose of the hearing was to certify whether there is sufficient evidence to move forward with the suspects' cases and move the proceedings from Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court to Circuit Court. Judge Margaret Deglau ultimately ruled both could happen. Three people, including the baby’s parents –– 30-year-old Ashton Marie Leeper and 47-year-old Derrick Dwayne Carter –– have been charged in connection with her death. At about 1 p.m. on Monday, June 29, officers with the Henrico County Police Division were called to the Motel 6 on Williamsburg Road for a report of a medical emergency. When officers arrived, they found baby L. C. unconscious and not breathing.   She was pronounced dead at VCU Medical Center, the same place she was born a month and two days earlier. Carter and Leeper have been charged with homicide and child abuse, and another adult staying in the motel room, Christina Snead, is charged with accessory after the fact for allegedly throwing away potential evidence before first responders arrived at the motel.   Leeper is being represented by Kevin Purnell, Carter is being represented by Jeffrey Everhardt, and Snead is being represented by Craig Cooley. All three of them are in custody. Snead was originally released on bond, but was re-arrested following a violation of her bond. It's unclear what violation that is. The Commonwealth's Attorney is being represented by Alison Martin. Witness 1 The first witness to take the stand was Det. Elizabeth Mason. Mason responded to the motel in June. She was told they needed a full team response from the Special Victims' Unit. Baby L.C. was not in the motel room by the time she got there, as she had already been taken to the hospital. Mason said she took photographs of the motel room, 13 of which were shown in court from different angles. The pictures showed a single can of formula next to Gerber‘s rice cereal, labeled as food for a 6-month-old or older. There was no bassinet or a safe sleep area for baby L.C. in the room. On the bedside table, photos showed there were smoking devices and ashtrays. The only suspect Mason said she spoke to that day was Snead, who told her she needed to speak to Mason "in confidence." Snead then told her she didn’t know what was in the room, but that she believed Carter and Leeper had been doing drugs. A week after L.C. died, Mason and another detective met back up with Leeper and Carter to do a reenactment in the motel room. The Chief Medical Examiner‘s Office and CPS employees were also present. They had Carter and Leeper pose with a baby doll to take photos demonstrating how they were sleeping the night L.C. died. Carter said L.C. had a tendency to roll so he slept behind her while Leeper slept behind him. Later, a medical expert said that a baby L.C.'s age would not be able to roll. Witness 2 The second witness to take the stand was Det. Deanna Dixon, who ultimately became the lead investigator in the case. Dixon responded to the hospital to meet with the parents and talk to medical staff. Dixon learned from Carter that the night before, L.C. was "sweaty and had some bumps" and had thrown up twice. She also learned that the parents had fed her applesauce and rice cereal, and that the parents smoked cigarettes in the motel room. Dixon said she was told L.C. hadn't been fed for the 12 hours leading up to her death. A couple of days later, on July 1, Dixon went back to the motel for surveillance video footage. In that footage, she saw the door to the motel room open at 1:04 p.m., heard screaming, saw Carter walk out of the room and go back in, and then at 1:07 p.m. saw Snead walk out with a bag that she threw in the trash after 911 was called but before they got there. Dixon said there’s "something they’re trying to hide." She also said she saw evidence of cocaine use from the photos inside the room she observed. Witness 3 The third witness to take the stand was Henrico CPS investigator Nneka Hamilton. Hamilton served as the lead investigator for CPS in the case. She said Carter and Leeper both appeared tired while at the hospital when they met in a consult room. Once they learned L.C. had died, Carter said they planned to go back to his cousin’s house. She said Carter said he’d used cocaine a couple of days before L.C. died, and Leeper denied taking any. They both took urine screens and both tested positive for cocaine. Hamilton said while the case is not completely closed through CPS yet, Leeper and Derrick case has been certified as Level One, which represents the most serious tier of child abuse or neglect in Virginia. Witness 4 The fourth and final witness to take the stand was Dr. Robin Foster. Foster is an expert in pediatric medicine and was in the ER when L.C. was brought in. She said L.C.'s body temperature was 89°F, which is "severe hypothermia." The normal body temperature is 98.6°F. She also said L.C.‘s glucose level was severely low since it had been 12 hours since she had been fed. Foster said a baby her age should be fed every two to three hours and that the parents knew this based on discharge instructions from when L.C. was born. Those instructions also included how to safely place your baby to sleep, and that their actions constitute neglect. Foster also said a baby her age should only have milk or formula, even though L.C. was being fed applesauce and rice cereal. She said Leeper not only tested positive for cocaine, but also fentanyl the day L.C. was born. Foster could not confirm if it came from the epidural Leeper was given during childbirth. Foster said because Leeper got prenatal care when she was already four months pregnant, they screened baby L.C. through CPS. A Richmond CPS agent came to the hospital and screened L.C.'s urine. She tested positive for cocaine and fentanyl. CPS ultimately screened her out and did not plan on following the case because she was not showing symptoms of withdrawal. Foster concluded that three things contributed to the death of baby L.C.: the 12 hours of not being fed, co-sleeping in bed with her parents face down and the cocaine in her system. The three suspects will appear in Circuit Court on Nov. 24. ...read more read less