A Connecticut woman has been sentenced to eight years in prison in the homicide of a 3-week-old baby.
Janell Campbell, 22, of New Britain, pleaded nolo contendere to the manslaughter of baby Jaleah Jayde Quintero and risk of injury to a child in the case after being accused of dropping and possibly falling on the baby after drinking alcohol, according to the state judicial website and arrest warrant. She was found guilty on July 9, according to the state judicial website, after entering her plea.
Campbell was at the home of baby Jaleah Jayde Quintero's family with her son to get money for a cell phone bill and was hanging out with Jaleah's mother and her male friend.
The mother told police that Campbell wanted marijuana and that she left at one point to buy some with her friend, asking Campbell to watch her baby. When the Jaleah's mother and friend returned, she noticed marks on the baby's head and asked what happened, according to the arrest warrant.
Campbell initially blamed her son and said he had knocked the baby's bassinet over earlier but that the child hadn't fallen out, according to the arrest warrant. Both the mother and her friend told police they had seen Campbell yell at her son earlier in the evening, police said. She also initially told police she wasn't drunk when the incident happened but that she felt "nice."
But she later told police that she lost her balance because she was drunk while holding Jaleah and dropped her. Campbell also said she thought she fell on the child.
The child was unresponsive and was taken to the Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain. Doctors called New Britain police on Dec. 5 at 5:24 a.m. to report they were treating a 3-week-old girl in the emergency room who was unconscious and had a suspicious head wound.
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Police arrived nine minutes later and learned the baby went into cardiac arrest and had "bruising to the face and head," police said.
A LifeStar helicopter transferred the baby to Connecticut Children's Medical Center at 7:37 a.m. that day and the baby went into cardiac arrest for a second time, police said. The baby later died at the hospital.
The medical examiner determined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma.
When police searched the home of Jaleah's mother, they found an empty 24-pack of Miller High Life beer, two empty bottles of Patron tequila and part of a marijuana blunt, police said in the arrest warrant.
Police determined that Campbell's "actions appear to have resulted in the death of the victim."
Campbell was charged with risk of injury to a minor and second-degree manslaughter "for dropping the victim on the floor while she was under the influence of alcohol and failing to obtain medical aid for the victim," police said in the arrest warrant.
Campbell has been sentenced to eight years of jail and two years of special parole.
