Posted on 04/18/2024 2:31:08 AM PDT by Morgana
An Indianapolis mother has been found not guilty of neglectfully smothering her child to death - as a judge shockingly said he would have found her guilty of involuntary manslaughter or reckless homicide.
Dacia Lacey, 32, walked free after a judge ruled that prosecutors brought inappropriate charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, contending they didn't prove she killed her two-month-old daughter Alona on purpose.
The mother admitted to police that she smothered the infant with couch cushions while she was high on methamphetamines so she could 'get some sleep' in August 2022.
She wept in court this week as Judge Mark Stoner said he was freeing her 'reluctantly', insisting she was 'not innocent', but also 'not guilty of what the state has charged you with.'
The case was a bench trial, meaning it was only decided by a single judge instead of a jury.
When Lacey was initially questioned over her daughter's death, she told officers that it was a freak accident caused by her children playing with the baby on a couch.
However, five months later, she admitted to smothering her child with couch cushions because she wouldn't stop crying when she faced another interrogation.
At her trial, the court heard a recording of the 911 call she made after her the death, where she was heard screaming and crying at a dispatcher.
'Oh my god! Oh my God! My baby is dead! My newborn baby is dead!' she said in the recording.
By the time emergency services arrived at her home, the infant was already dead, reports WTHR. A toxicology report found the mother had meth in her system at the time.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
What happened to manslaughter?
It’s their culture, Boo-Boo.
Another life that did not matter.
It sounds like second degree to me. She may not have planned to kill, but she didn’t care about the effect of her actions enough to ensure she didn’t kill.
They teach that in law school?
Drunk drivers don’t intend to kill children but they do.
But they didn’t do it on purpose so they should all be let go, right?
I mean, if they’re black of course.
Placing a pillow over someone’s face is intent enough. It’s deliberate.
No such thing as *not guilty* and *not innocent* at the same time. She’s guilty.
Preview of any Hunter / Biden family outcome. Already saw it with Hur. Too feeble etc but out there campaigning
Cereal box top lawyer becomes judge in Indianapolis, lets off perpetrator of felony drug use and infanticide.
Maybe it’s a sign of the times. Lawlessness will abound.
Yeah ...
One look says guilty.
It matters to God.
Life is cheap.
Prosecutors stupidly placed the emphasis on “her intent” bass-ackwards.
When she ingested a mood-altering drug, that was “intent” right there
......to engage in destructive behavior that had deadly consequences.
The state deliberately overcharged in order to throw the case.
Judge Stoner is the toughest Judge in the county. The prosecutor’s must have really screwed for him to do this.
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