Debra Gatlin Clair, 49, who has been addicted to prescription drugs for almost 30 years, wiped her eyes with a tissue and solemnly turned to her family seated in the gallery after state District Judge Wayne Salvant read the verdict.
For Clair's loved ones, who were hoping for probation and an opportunity for Clair to enter a drug rehabilitation program, the verdict was a blow.
"I just wanted her to get some help," said Sherry Kiefer, Clair's sister. "That is just so long. My heart is breaking. I just want to hold her."
For prosecutors, who had asked for 20 years, the verdict was a precedent-setting victory. It marked the first time that the Tarrant County district attorney's office has tried and convicted a person who provided the drugs to someone whose death stemmed from their use.
"I hope a message is sent to the community at large that parents shouldn't do drugs with their children," said lead prosecutor Mitch Poe, who tried the case with fellow Assistant District Attorney Ed Lasater. "If they do, and we can prove it, we will put them to trial for it.
"Parents have to take responsibility for their actions. She took no responsibility for her daughter's death even though she admitted doing heroin with her. (Tiffany) never had a chance with this mother."
Defense attorney Jim Shaw said he was somewhat surprised by the punishment. Because the jurors deliberated so long, he was hoping they were struggling between giving Clair probation and the maximum sentence.
"I think a fair verdict would have been around eight years," Shaw said.
According to testimony, Clair, Tiffany and Bradley Ray Waltermire, the son of Clair's ex-boyfriend, shot up heroin at Clair's Everman apartment on May 3, 2001 -- about a week after Tiffany had been released from a mental hospital, where she was treated for drug addiction and attempting suicide.
At some point, Waltermire went home but called Clair a short time later, asking her to come get him. Clair said she tried to wake her daughter but left anyway.
When Clair and Waltermire returned, Tiffany was dead.
On Friday, the jury of seven women and five men deliberated about an hour and 45 minutes before convicting Clair of manslaughter for recklessly causing the death of her daughter.
To find Clair guilty of manslaughter, jurors determined that she either injected her daughter with the drug, assisted or encouraged in the injection or failed to seek reasonable medical care after she realized her daughter had ingested a dangerous substance.
Defense attorney Shaw said he will appeal the case, calling the indictment "fundamentally defective."
"It was quite a broad, duplicity charged indictment," Shaw said. "The evidence was insufficient to prove up the indictment as a matter of law. There was no evidence that she injected the child. ... All she did was watch it happen, and the law says that is insufficient to convict you."
Jurors declined to talk to a reporter after the verdict, but attorneys said that the panel told them each member spoke freely about the case before they settled on 15 years.
Clair must serve one-fourth of her sentence, about three years and seven months, before she is eligible for parole.
Although Clair's family was upset about the verdict, they hoped that prison would at least give her the opportunity to clean up her life.
"I love her and I hope this wakes her up and she gets something out of this," said her brother, Robert Gatlin Jr. "I hope, with what she is facing, I hope and pray she gets help. There is nothing else to say."
Bradley Waltermire, 23, has also been charged with manslaughter in the teen's death and remains free on bail awaiting trial.
"Bradley Waltermire has a date with a jury sometime in the future," Poe said. "He is the one who delivered the drugs ... which killed Tiffany Clair."
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