A 22-year-old woman from Dallas has been sentenced to life in prison for the starvation and death of her 7-month-old son in 2014.
Princess White pleaded guilty to a charge of injury to a child for the death of Kary Sharpe.
Court records say the infant was found unconscious by his biological grandmother and died later at the hospital.
“It was horrific,” said Eren Price, child abuse prosecutor. “The detective described being able to see every bone in his body through his skin. He had no muscle tone.”
The Mother told detectives that the baby was born at a local hospital in April 2014 and weighed 6 pounds. She said the baby had been diagnosed as lactose intolerant and that she had been repeatedly instructed to change his formula.
She said she had taken the child to all of his check-up appointments, including his 2-month checkup and his 6-month checkup. Hospital records, however, showed that the child wasn’t taken in for his 6-month appointment.
Hospital records also showed that she brought the child into the ER in July 2014, stating the infant had not taken a bottle since the day before and would sometimes throw up after taking a bottle. The child weighed 9 pounds, 3 ounces at the time. She left before the child could even be evaluated by a doctor.
At the time of his death, the baby weighed just 7 pounds, only a few ounces more than his birth weight.
During a search of her apartment, Investigators found cans of milk-based formula, but no cans of soy-based formula.
The mother of 3 testified that raising 3 children was a struggle for her to work as well as pay the bills. Prosecutors pointed out that White had supportive extended family who would have helped her if she’d ask.
She had an open CPS case, but did not participate in the services offered. White also didn’t take the infant to the WIC office so he could be examined in November 2014. When she missed the appointed, she also lost her WIC benefits.
“She could have taken advantage of support but she didn’t and she lied when confronted about it,” Price said. “I argued her lies showed us that the starvation was intentional. She knew what she was doing and it was not mistake at all.”
District Judge Theresa Hawthorne told White that she was sickened by the way that she had allowed her own child to suffer.