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Last updated on Wednesday, December 28, 2011
(BEDFORD) - Kaitlin “Erin” Essick was sentenced by Lawrence Superior Court II Judge William Sleva to eight years in prison for her part in the death of her 7-month-old son, Jamison.
Earlier this year Sleva had rejected a plea agreement between Lawrence County Deputy Prosecutor Tim Sledd and Essick and her attorney John Plummer II that would have resulted in a 10-year sentence for the 24-year-old woman.
But earlier this month, Sleva accepted Essick's guilty plea to neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury including death and sentenced her to the maximum term.
Essick was arrested when police were called to a home on North Jackson street on July 16, 2009 because the baby wasn't breathing.
Essick and her then 17-year-old boyfriend, Casey Garrison, were spending the night at the home of some friends. According to court records, Garrison, Essick and others had been taking drugs and drinking the night the child died. Essick told police she had taken two shots of liquor, Klonopin (a drug used to treat panic disorders) and passed out.
Garrison said he took four or five Klonopin and stayed up all night drinking.
When police arrived in the early-morning hours, they found Garrison trying to revive Jamison with CPR.
The baby was taken to a local hospital and then flown to Riley Hospital for Children where he died as the result of blunt force trauma to the head.
Garrison, now 19, plead guilty to reckless homicide in May 2010 and was sentenced to eight years in prison. He is incarcerated at Putnamville Correctional Facility. Essick is incarcerated at Rockville Correctional Facility.
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