Cheyenne Holmes is led out of the 120 Police Precinct stationhouse on Sept. 16, 2008.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Concord woman whose 9-month-old baby drowned in their bathtub was spared jail Thursday as she was sentenced to a three-year conditional discharge.
Prosecutors said Cheyenne Holmes was elsewhere in her Pierce Street apartment on Sept. 14, 2008, and had left baby Kelis Holmes-Gilmore unattended, along with her 4-year-old sister, in the tub. Kelis was found floating face-down by her 7-year-old brother.
The infant could not be resuscitated and was later pronounced dead in Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze.
Police found marijuana in the master bedroom and a bag with 36 bullets in a closet, court papers said.
Afterward, Ms. Holmes, now 28, emphatically denied to the Advance that she had been partying with a friend who was in the apartment that night, but declined to further discuss the incident.
Neighbors expressed surprise over the episode, characterizing Ms. Holmes as an attentive and caring mother.
Ms. Holmes previously pleaded guilty on Feb. 18 in state Supreme Court, St. George, to criminally negligent homicide, the top count against her.
William J. Smith, spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan, said prosecutors agreed to no jail time for several factors. Chief among them was that Ms. Holmes did not mean to harm her child.
In addition, she was required to take parenting classes and drug testing and potentially faces up to four years in prison if she doesn’t comply with those conditions or gets re-arrested.
"Obviously, this is a tragic situation for the two surviving children and most especially for the loss of a 9-month-old who was just beginning her life," said Smith. "Ms. Holmes did not behave with intent to cause the death of her baby, but she acted with negligence in leaving the child unattended in the bathroom with her 4-year-old sibling.
"We believe the combination of parenting classes, drug testing, and the threat of a prison sentence if she violates her conditional discharge, is in the best interests of justice in this case."
Ms. Holmes is currently battling in Family Court to gain custody of her two surviving children, said prosecutors.
A telephone listing for her could not be obtained Thursday, nor could her lawyer be immediately reached for comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment