Mom found guilty of killing baby with fentanyl in sippy cup
A Pennsylvania mom who prosecutors argue gave her baby fentanyl in a sippy cup so she could return to smoking pot was found guilty in the child’s death.
Jhenea Pratt, 23, showed no emotion when she was convicted Tuesday in Allegheny County Court of involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of her 17-month-old daughter, news station KOCO reported.
The jury acquitted the mom of homicide charges in the April 5, 2018, death of Charlette Napper-Talley, who was poisoned by a fentanyl cocktail at their East Hills apartment.
Prosecutors argued Pratt fed her baby the fatal mixture because she wanted to “sit back, relax and smoke marijuana,” according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“That baby was getting in the way of her enjoying her pastime,” Assistant District Attorney Diana Page told the court.
Police who responded to the home in April 2018 discovered a red liquid inside a pink sippy cup that contained enough fentanyl to “kill two horses,” according to the newspaper.
Pratt told police she gave her daughter the cup and put her to sleep about an hour before she found her unresponsive in bed.
Jurors were shown footage of detectives questioning Pratt about the deadly opioid inside the cup — with the mom claiming the drug may have come from a fruit-flavored “happy drink.”
“I have no knowledge as to how fentanyl got into my daughter’s sippy cup,” Pratt was heard saying, according to KOCO.
Pratt’s court-appointed lawyer argued that she may “smoke weed every now and then” but wasn’t responsible for her daughter’s death, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
Her attorney, Brandon Herring, claimed the mom’s boyfriend, Albert Williams, prepared the fatal mixture in the sippy cup for her daughter.
“Albert had access to fentanyl and he prepared the sippy cup,” Herring told the court. “The prosecution hasn’t provided any evidence that Ms. Pratt put the fentanyl in that cup.”
The date for Pratt’s sentencing has not been set.
via: http:// https://nypost.com/2019/06/05/mom-found-guilty-of-killing-baby-with-fentanyl-in-sippy-cup/
Photo Credit: nypost.com/Pittsburgh Police