DECATUR, Ga. — A suburban Atlanta woman has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the 2021 homicide of a 4-month-old who died after she positioned him to sleep on his stomach in the child care middle she operated out of her basement.
A pass judgement on sentenced Amanda Hickey, 48, on Friday after households of kids she was once accused of abusing gave emotional testimony in opposition to her.
”I do know that there’s not anything I will say in phrases to remove their ache, except for take accountability and specific excessive sorrow for what I’ve carried out,” Hickey informed DeKalb County Superior Court Chief Judge LaTisha Dear Jackson, in accordance to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “This is my legacy now.”
Charlie Cronmiller was once being cared for in Hickey’s (*30*) Lovey child care middle when he died on Feb. 3, 2021. Hickey did not take a look at on him for greater than two hours sooner than discovering him coated in vomit and no longer respiring. The toddler was once pronounced lifeless at a medical institution.
Hickey operated the child care middle from the basement of her Dunwoody house. She first of all informed investigators that she put the newborn down on his again, in line with state laws, however that the child rolled over onto his stomach. Security video, then again, confirmed Hickey in truth positioned the baby facedown.
Video confirmed her swinging different young children via their ft, slamming them into the bottom, pulling their hair, pushing and tripping little toddlers, and putting others in unsafe positions for sleep, prosecutors stated. The sufferers ranged in age from 6 to 18 months.
Hickey was once authorized to care for 6 kids, however prosecutors stated 10 have been within her house the day Charlie died.
She pleaded to blame Sept. 22 to seven counts of first-degree child cruelty, seven counts of reckless behavior, one rely of second-degree child cruelty and 3 counts of battery. Hickey entered an Alford plea, which permits an individual to take care of her innocence whilst acknowledging that it’s in her absolute best hobby to plead to blame to fees of second-degree homicide and second-degree child cruelty comparable to Cronmiller’s death.
“There is no remorse,” the newborn’s mom, Stephanie Cronmiller, informed the courtroom Friday. “The only thing she’s sorry about is that she got caught. I focus on forgiving myself because I chose her. How could I not think this was my fault?”
Hickey was once taken into custody in an instant after the listening to. Jackson ordered that when Hickey is launched from prison, she will’t have touch with the sufferers or any kids more youthful than 13, and will’t achieve financially from the case.
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