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Laken Snelling Only Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Killing Her Baby
life news ^ | Oct 16, 2026 | Steven Ertelt |

Posted on 10/17/2026 3:05:02 AM PDT by Morgana

A former University of Kentucky cheerleader who admitted ending the life of her newborn son after he was born alive was sentenced Friday to just 10 years in prison.

Laken Snelling, 22, of White Pine, Tennessee, received concurrent sentences from Fayette Circuit Judge Diane Minnifield: 10 years for first-degree manslaughter and one year each for abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant.

Prosecutors had recommended the concurrent terms as part of a plea agreement. She received credit for 415 days already spent under house arrest and will be eligible for parole after serving 85% of the sentence. She is not eligible for probation.

The full-term infant, named McCoy Cade Hall, was born alive in August 2025 and died of asphyxia, according to the Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office.

Police found his body wrapped in a towel inside a trash bag in a closet at Snelling’s off-campus home near downtown Lexington on Aug. 27, 2025, after roommates reported blood and unusual noises and called authorities. The baby was cold to the touch and was pronounced dead at the scene.

During her Aug. 21, 2026, guilty plea, Snelling told the court she had been under emotional stress and the birth was unexpected.

“Instead of helping him, I ended his life,” she said. “I deprived him of oxygen.”

She previously told investigators she gave birth alone around 4 a.m., that the baby made a whimper and showed some movement, and that she later cleaned up evidence and placed the infant in the bag.

Judge Minnifield described the offense as a crime of violence that took the life of an innocent baby “that did nothing but come out and breathe.”

She noted Snelling’s lack of prior criminal history and supportive family but said the decision carried lasting consequences for the child and his relatives.

The baby’s father, Izaiah Hall, told the court he did not wish the worst on Snelling. Family members described the infant as a perfectly healthy, beautiful, full-term baby boy who deserved a chance to grow and be loved, saying they were left mourning milestones that would never come.

Snelling, a former member of the university’s STUNT team who later withdrew from school, had initially pleaded not guilty after a March 2026 indictment that included the manslaughter charge. The case resolved without a trial under the plea agreement.


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: baby; kentucky; prolife

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1 posted on 10/17/2026 3:05:02 AM PDT by Morgana
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To: Morgana

What is going on with young women?

I see young men flocking to the church. I see young women getting pregnant and killing their children. Am I being hyperbolic in this observation?


2 posted on 10/17/2026 3:18:14 AM PDT by rarestia (“A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.” -Hamilton)
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To: rarestia

Does not make sense to me either. If all those men are going to church then why are the women getting pregnant out of wedlock? What are the churches teaching those men?


3 posted on 10/17/2026 3:34:14 AM PDT by Morgana ( The more I get to know people, the more I realize why Noah only let animals on the boat.)
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To: Morgana

I see them as two completely different cohorts.

More young men are going to church and finding Godly women.

More women are getting pregnant and inexplicably deciding to destroy their babies at the end of their term.

I don’t see the Godly men seeking out the merciless women, and vice versa.

Maybe it’s just confirmation bias, because the media is reporting it more often; but I have a family member going through a messy divorce from an absolute psychopath of a woman (literally clinically psychotic). She’s on 8 different mental health medications. This family member is devastated, but tells me that this is the state of young women now.

It’s like a mass psychosis.


4 posted on 10/17/2026 3:37:53 AM PDT by rarestia (“A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.” -Hamilton)
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To: rarestia

[What is going on with young women?]

Our world is now living Isaiah 5:20

As taught by “music”, Hollywood and Democrats

Unchecked by Almighty God’s Word,
the Destruction will only accelerate

✝️✝️✝️

🙏🙏🙏

Watch how things continue to unfold


5 posted on 10/17/2026 3:45:30 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They Did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: rarestia

[It’s like a mass psychosis.]

The spirit of antichrist is
very busy influencing people
to reject the Bible and God
in these Last Days


6 posted on 10/17/2026 3:48:55 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They Did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: Morgana

There are a lot of men, and a lot of women. Perhaps the men going to church are not the ones knocking up the easy women?


7 posted on 10/17/2026 4:14:35 AM PDT by Fireone (1. Avoid crowds 2.Head on a swivel 3.Be prepared to protect & defend those around you 4.Avoid crowds)
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To: Morgana

She is not eligible for probation.

Wait...what?

After serving 8.5 years less 1.3 yrs time served [roughly] she just walks away at about 30yrs old and that’s it?

No wonder it keeps happening...


8 posted on 10/17/2026 4:41:11 AM PDT by Adder ("A pack of jackasses led by a lion is superior to a pack of lions led by a jackass.” GW.)
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To: rarestia

“Maybe it’s just confirmation bias, because the media is reporting it more often; but I have a family member going through a messy divorce from an absolute psychopath of a woman (literally clinically psychotic). She’s on 8 different mental health medications. This family member is devastated, but tells me that this is the state of young women now.”

Only 8? That is about how much Lindsey Clancy was on at any given time. She gets the blame but we all know big pharma was getting rich off her, your friends wife and millions of people.

It’s nothing new. Remember the song “mother’s little helper”? In the 50’s women were given Valium like Pez to calm down. Now it’s a trillion dollars industry of drugging women into oblivion.

Are some of them that ill? Yes they are, problem is they are over prescribed, it’s like shooting a squirrel with an elephant gun.


9 posted on 10/17/2026 4:44:17 AM PDT by Morgana ( The more I get to know people, the more I realize why Noah only let animals on the boat.)
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To: All

These child-killing women are products of legalized abortion....and Planned Parenthood’s lies.

They’re taught the being growing inside them is not
“human”....just a buncha cells.....a mass of protoplasm.


Just one notable exception.......Jewish law is explicit.

Killing a newborn baby after birth is strictly considered murder
(infanticide) under Jewish law, carrying the exact same legal
and moral weight as killing an adult.


10 posted on 10/17/2026 4:50:56 AM PDT by Liz (“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies the work of His hands. " (Psalm 19:1))
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To: Morgana

I bet some feel that this murderer is “Mother of the Year”. Pathetic...sick.


11 posted on 10/17/2026 6:02:15 AM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: rarestia

Women who would do this have no moral compass, they get rid of anything that could inconvenience them they done absolutely nothing to protect themselves from having a child And the men who impregnate them I have no more compass either They are probably happy the girl killed the baby


12 posted on 10/17/2026 6:13:34 AM PDT by wild74
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To: Morgana

Serial killers “end the life” of college girls.

How about softening things?


13 posted on 10/17/2026 6:22:00 AM PDT by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
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