AUSTIN (KXAN) — A 27-year-old woman pleaded guilty back in August and was sentenced to 40 years in prison in connection with the death of her 5-month-old, according to a news release from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office Monday.
Court documents alleged the woman, Danielle Ivy Dechert, had been “intoxicated by an illegal substance” while she was “co-sleeping” with her 5-month-old and “smothered” the baby to death, the release said.
Additionally, court documents claimed Dechert did not “provide any medical treatment or emergency aid for over eight hours” to the baby, according to the AG’s office.
In addition to pleading guilty to the charge of injury to a child recklessly causing death/serious bodily injury, Dechert’s punishment was “enhanced with a prior felony conviction for Evading in a Motor Vehicle and Endangering a Child from an unrelated criminal episode in 2014,” the release said.