A Bellingham mother will spend a year in prison for neglecting her 3-month-old son in 2015 until he starved to death.
Brittany Shane Daniels, 26, was sentenced Tues. Jan. 14, to one year and a day in prison, with one year of probation, in Whatcom County Superior Court. Daniels pleaded guilty Nov. 7 to one count of second-degree manslaughter for the death of Lucian Mykael Shields.
Daniels was given an agreed-upon exceptional sentence below the standard range.
Lucian's father, Cody James Shields, 27, is also charged with second-degree manslaughter. Shields pleaded not guilty Feb. 26, 2016, and his trial is tentatively scheduled for April 20, 2020, according to court records. Daniels is expected to testify against Shields at his trial.
Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Richey said the sentencing recommendation for Daniels took into account that she pleaded guilty to the original charge, her cooperation and expected testimony against Shields.
Daniels' public defense attorney, Maialisa Vanyo, said since Lucian's death in 2015, Daniels has worked closely with the public defender's office, and the evidence collected demonstrated Daniels was under difficult circumstances at the time of the infant's death. Vanyo said Daniels was in an emotionally abusive relationship with Shields, was the sole money-maker in the family and had undergone a serious surgery in November -- one month before Lucian's death.
"Between Aug. 25, Lucian's birth, and his tragic death in December, Brittany was under some extraordinary stress and difficulty," Vanyo said at the sentencing hearing.
Vanyo said at the time of Lucian's death, Daniels was back at work and had left the child in Shields' care.
"She accepts responsibility for her neglect in allowing Cody to be the provider of her child," Vanyo said. "She gave a statement detailing the circumstances leading up to the decedent's death. We negotiated that to her position to testify if necessary to make sure sure the co-defendant is held responsible for his part in the death."
Whatcom County Superior Court Judge Rob Olson said he understood the attorneys had worked hard to come to a resolution. He said he was not the judge that accepted Daniels' guilty plea, and that had he been given the opportunity to do so, he might not have accepted the plea agreement that was proposed. But because the plea was accepted, Olson said he felt it was difficult now for him to stray beyond the agreed-upon sentencing recommendation.
"Hearing the words of both Mr. Richey and Ms. Vanyo, I completely can understand how domestic violence is a very powerful force and how that domestic violence can cause a person to behave in a way that they wouldn't before," Olson said. "I know there was a lengthy period of time that baby Lucian was not receiving adequate nutrition and that is apparently what resulted in his death, it was abject neglect. And while I hear your attorney's words saying that domestic violence in your relationship created a circumstance where perhaps you felt trapped or unable to act, in part while that explains things, it doesn't excuse what happened to your child and what you allowed to happen to your child."
Daniels declined to speak at her hearing.
An autopsy found Lucian died Dec. 8, 2015, at the age of 3 months and 13 days, from malnutrition, dehydration and "neglect of ordinary care of an infant," according to the county medical examiner's office. Lucian's weight was 9 pounds and 7 ounces at death. He had gained about 17 ounces since birth, court records state.
Lucian's death
According to charging documents, Shields allegedly stayed up all night playing video games on the night before Lucian was found dead. Shields fell asleep around 7 a.m., and didn't check on the baby until the late afternoon, court records state.
Shields said he often wore headphones while playing video games in the living room, and kept the baby's door closed. Shields said sometimes he couldn't hear Lucian crying, court records state.
Shields said he fed the baby three times in the night and early morning hours before Lucian died, court records state. He twice propped the child's 6-ounce bottle of formula on a blanket, as he often did, and left the room, the court records show.
Shields told police he believed Daniels had left for work around 9:30 a.m., but said he wasn't sure if she fed Lucian.
Lucian was found dead in his crib at 5 p.m.
Daniels told police that Shields was the primary caregiver for Lucian, because the baby was sleeping in his room, but that the pair shared the responsibility of feeding him, court records state. She said she usually fed Lucian in the evenings because Shields would fall asleep, the records show.
Daniels said she had also fed Lucian late in the evening and early in the morning prior to his death, records state.
A witness stated that both parents "were often irritated" with Lucian because he cried frequently and that they both often fed the baby by propping up his bottle, according to court records.
An autopsy determined that Lucian had no fat on his body and that it looked like he had very little to eat for days, court records state. Whatcom County Medical Examiner Dr. Gary Goldfogel determined there was nothing else obviously wrong with Lucian that could have caused his death "beyond malnutrition, absence of feeding for a prolonged interval, and gross neglect," the court records show.
Lucian's manner of death was listed as homicide, and his cause of death was listed as undetermined, with the mechanism as dehydration and malnutrition, according to court records.
