HENDERSON, Ky (WEHT) – A Mt. Vernon woman will spend the next 16 years in prison after being convicted of child neglect in Posey County after a baby passed away in her care.
Court records state Nyla Brantley Gold passed away on due to extensive head trauma on October 6, 2018, at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
On October 3, 2018, law enforcement and medical personnel were dispatched to an unresponsive child. Records say Gold’s parents, Jamie Brantley and Mark Gold, had called 911 for help, and Gold had been in the care of Burris and her boyfriend Richard Kennedy. Records also say Brantley and Gold were notified when the child wasn’t acting right and they needed to pick her up.
Samantha Jo Burris, 30, was given the sentence as part of a guilty plea of Neglect of a Dependent Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury, a Level 3 Felony.
As part of the plea, officials state Burris admitted while having the care of a 14-month-old child, she placed the child in a situation that endangered the child’s life by failing to appropriately supervise the child and failing to seek medical care for the child.
Officials state an investigation conducted by Indiana State Police revealed Nyla was in good health when she was dropped off at Burris’s apartment, and Kennedy and Burris allegedly denied doing anything to inflict injuries on the child.
At sentencing, Burris faced between 3 to 16 years, and prosecutors argued for the maximum sentence, and officials say the court heard emotional statements from Nyla’s family members during the hearing.
Posey County Prosecutor Thomas Clowers commented, “This is an incredibly sad and tragic case. The sentence imposed cannot bring Nyla back, but I’m grateful that Nyla’s family received some measure of closure and justice today. Nyla will never be forgotten by any of us.”
Burris will be transported to the Indiana Department of Corrections to serve her sentence.
Kennedy also took a plea deal earlier this year and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
