After a court tossed out the confession, a California man pleaded down from a murder charge to voluntary manslaughter for killing his then-girlfriend’s 1-year-old daughter. Derrick Dimone Woods, 47, was sentenced on Tuesday to 15 years and eight months in prison for killing Amanda Owens, 16 months, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office announced.

He also pleaded guilty to physical child abuse for hurting and injuring Amanda’s 3-year-old brother, Elijah, and to false imprisonment by force or violence regarding both children.

The parents of a newborn baby in Pennsylvania have been arrested in connection with the child’s tragic death after authorities say they didn’t set up a bassinet or crib, instead letting the child sleep in their bed where he died. Ashley Susana Usadel, 31, and Travis Scott Smart, 34, were arrested Thursday morning and charged with one count each of child endangerment in the tragic death of young Zane Scott Usadel-Smart, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.

Usadel is also facing an additional charge of involuntary manslaughter.

According to court documents obtained by NorthCentralPA, officers with the Sunbury Police Department responded at about 2:30 a.m. on April 10 to a home on North Sixth Street in regard to a call about an unresponsive infant. Upon arriving at the address, first responders said they saw the father performing CPR on the child, who was face-up on a bed in the living room of the home, and took over performing lifesaving procedures.

Emergency medical personnel arrived a short while later but were not able to provide any assistance. Zane was pronounced dead at the scene and authorities contacted the Northumberland County Coroner’s Office as well as the county office of Children and Youth Services.

Both parents were reportedly transported to the police station, where they underwent interviews with detectives.

According to a report from PennLive, Usadel said that she laid down in bed at about 9:30 p.m. the previous evening with the baby. She was allegedly holding Zane in her right arm and breastfeeding him while using her left hand to hold her phone and scroll through her TikTok feed. At some point, she said she fell asleep and believed Zane rolled out of her arms and onto the bed. She said she awoke to find him unresponsive next to her on the bed.

A Connecticut man is behind bars following the drowning death of his 7-month-old baby boy last fall, authorities say.

Angel Marcus Rodriguez, 29, stands accused of one count of manslaughter in the second degree as well as two counts each of risk of injury to a minor and two counts of second-degree reckless endangerment, according to the East Haven Police Department.

Those charges stem from Angel Josiah Rodriguez’s death — and the alleged harm that could have befallen the boy’s 3-year-old brother.

The incident occurred late in the evening on Oct. 6, 2024, at a house on Redfield Avenue in East Haven — a medium-sized town located a few miles east of New Haven and part of the broader metro area.

A New York couple was charged with manslaughter months after prosecutors said they lied about their rental home having functional smoke detectors.

A press release from the New York State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Dutchess County District Attorney’s Office announced the March 18 arrest of Dennis Darcy, 57, and Meredith Darcy, 55, following an investigation into an October 2024 house fire that killed 35-year-old Shannon Hubbard and her 1-year-old daughter Margaret. According to the release, the house owned by the Darcys was being rented out to Hubbard and her family on Airbnb, which allegedly specified that the house was equipped with functioning smoke detectors.

WRGB, a local CBS affiliate, reported that the investigation allegedly found that there were no smoke detectors at the home at all.

A Florida minister allegedly killed a mother and seriously injured three of her children — ages 4, 6 and 15 — in a wrong-way car crash just six hours after he was released from jail for a DUI arrest, cops say.

Nicholas Betancourt, 33, is facing nearly a dozen charges, including DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide, for the Feb. 27 crash in Odessa that took the life of Dana Maria Rivera, 36, and left three of her children hospitalized, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. The mother-of-four was driving southbound on Gunn Highway near Dolce Vita Lane when Betancourt, who was driving a Chrysler Pacifica minivan, allegedly drifted over from the northbound lane and slammed into her Lincoln Town car.

Police say Betancourt, who was arrested on Thursday, was “on the nod” after the crash occurred, according to a motion filed by prosecutors for pretrial detention, with deputies who responded saying he appeared intoxicated.

“Deputy Garcia made contact with Defendant on scene and observed the defendant to be ‘on the nod’ with his head falling down and his eyes droopy,” the motion said. “Dash camera footage recovered shows the Pacifica operated by Defendant leaving its lane of travel and entering into the lane of travel for the Town Car at the time of the crash.”

A nurse at a county jail in Minnesota is facing a manslaughter charge nearly six years after an inmate under her care died in a case that’s already resulted in a $2.6 million lawsuit and a new law in the victim’s name to ensure something like that never happens again.

Michelle Rose Skroch, now 37, is facing charges of second-degree manslaughter culpable negligence and two counts of felony criminal neglect, one for “knowingly depriving” inmate Hardel Sherrell of medical care and the second for doing so for an “extended period of time.” A criminal complaint says the 27-year-old Sherrell was booked into the Beltrami County Jail on Aug. 24, 2018. While his blood pressure was high, he was otherwise in good condition in his initial health screening. He had a history of high blood pressure and a recent incident of respiratory failure, the complaint said.

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Three days after arriving at the jail, Sherrell began complaining of chest pain and said his fingers on his left hand were tingly. Doctors performed an EKG and gave him ibuprofen, Tylenol and an anti-anxiety medication. Sherrell also stated he had stopped taking his blood pressure medication in January 2018.

Sherrell’s condition continued to worsen over the ensuing days and kept falling out of his bunk bed and was unable to stand up. He said he was unable to feel his legs. A nurse went to check on him on Aug. 31, 2018, and found him lying on a mat in his cell and not able to move. His mouth also was drooping and his speech was slurred.

A jail doctor opined that Sherrell may be suffering from Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder affecting the peripheral nervous system. Sherrell went to the hospital where an emergency room physician diagnosed him with “malingering and weakness” as he was able to move his legs. They sent him back to jail after an MRI found no abnormalities, the complaint said. The ER doc instructed him to return to the hospital if he had a fever, signs of stoke and/or worsening weakness.

Skroch, who worked for MEnD Correctional Care, LLC which was contracted to provide medical services at the jail, came to work on Sept. 1, 2018, and was advised about Sherrell’s condition. When she went to see him, she allegedly just stood at his cell door and “never conducted a standard, basic nursing assessment.” She told Sherrell to “get up and walk” and that “there was nothing wrong with him and he could get up and walk if he wanted to,” according to the complaint. Sherrell “pleaded” for medical attention but Skroch allegedly said she “would not bargain with him.”

A 67-year-old grandmother in Hawaii will not be going to jail in connection with the death of her 9-year-old granddaughter, who weighed only 45 pounds when she starved in 2016 while in the woman’s care.

Hilo Circuit Court Judge Henry Nakamoto on Thursday ordered Henrietta Stone to serve a sentence of 10 years of probation over the death of young Shaelynn Lehano-Stone, authorities announced. Nakamoto handed down the sentence over the staunch objection of the Hawaii Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, who sought the maximum sentence of 20 years for Stone.

“There aren’t words to describe my disappointment and frustration in the outcome of this case. Shaelynn and our community deserved much better. Her death was caused by the three people, who she should have been able to trust the most,” Prosecuting Attorney Kelden Waltjen said in a statement released after the sentencing hearing. “We will not let this result discourage our ongoing efforts to protect our keiki.”

“Keiki” is a Hawaiian word that means “child.”

Stone in February 2024 pleaded no contest to one count of manslaughter for her role in Shaelynn’s death. She had originally been charged with one count of second-degree murder.

Shaelynn’s parents, Kevin Lehano and Tiffany K. Stone, also previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 years of probation, records show. Notably, the victim’s grandmother was her legal guardian at the time of her death.

A 42-year-old woman in Missouri will spend a decade behind bars for killing her husband of nine years, shooting him in the back of the head as he slept in their bed because she couldn’t afford to divorce him. Sixteenth Circuit Court Judge Jalilah Otto on Monday ordered Melanie Biggins to serve 10 years in a state correctional facility for the 2022 slaying of Etienne L. McEwan, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.

Biggins was initially arrested in August 2022 and charged with one count each of first-degree murder and armed criminal action, meaning she was facing a potential life sentence. However, her lawyer, public defender Edward S. Berrigan, reached a deal with prosecutors in which she agreed to plead guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter. In exchange for the plea, the other charges against Biggins were dismissed.

As Law&Crime previously reported, officers with the Kansas City Missouri Police Department at approximately 1 a.m. on Aug. 31, 2022, responded to a reported shooting at a residence in the 1700 block of Gillespie Place.

Upon arriving at the address, first responders encountered the couple’s two young daughters, ages 10 and 11, who were waving their arms to flag down police. They entered the home and went upstairs where they found Biggins administering CPR on her husband, who was “laying on the bed in a pool of blood.” Emergency Medical Services arrived at the scene a short while later and pronounced McEwan dead.

A Washington state man learned his fate in the fatal shooting of a young father of two baby boys when he tried to break up a fight between a jealous woman and her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend.

Artavious Zyshue Magee, 24, was sentenced Friday to 13 years and four months in prison for the fatal shooting of Lehman “Charrod” Tucker. Magee previously pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter. His codefendant, Audrianna Young, was the one prosecutors say instigated the April 18, 2023, killing.

She had allegedly threatened her ex-boyfriend over text, saying in messages, “Come outside” with a picture of her holding a handgun, and “I’m gonna light that house up,” local Fox affiliate KCPQ reported.

A man from Washington, D.C., has learned his fate in the shooting death of a 13-year-old boy killed outside the shooter’s home in 2023.

Jason Lewis, 42, was sentenced to 12½ years in prison on Friday for the killing of Karon Blake, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a press release. Lewis was convicted in August of voluntary manslaughter, assault with a dangerous weapon, and firearm charges.