NO Prison Time For Mom Who Passed Out On Drugs And Left Toddler Son To FREEZE To Death Just A Day After His Third Birthday
A drug-addicted Mother from North Carolina received no prison time for leaving her three-year-old son outside, to fatally freeze during her fix.
Landyn Melton celebrated his birthday just a day before he tragically died of hypothermia March 15 on the front porch of the family’s Morganton home.
A horrified neighbor had discovered the child that morning and immediately called police.
The meth-addled mother at the time, Jamie Lyn Basinger, 24, pleaded guilty on Monday to involuntary manslaughter.
Basinger accepted a plea deal of a suspended sentence of 19 to 32 months along with three years of supervised probation in Burke County Superior Court, the district attorney’s office have confirmed.
According to the Morganton News Herald, the eight months which Basinger had already served behind bars counted toward her final punishment.
Her felony child abuse charge has also been dropped in the deal.
A judge further ordered the Mother to complete 72 hours of community service. If any terms are violated, she faces jail time.
Basinger’s attorney said that his client complied to authorities because ‘she wanted answers herself’ about the nightmare March incident.
‘She didn’t understand this — it didn’t make sense to her,’ Frank Webster said in a court statement.
‘When this happened, when she saw Landyn laying on the porch, she broke down in tears — falling on the ground. She’s really never stopped crying since, your honor.‘
Basinger admitted that she had been using different drugs in the days leading up to her son’s death.
On the day of her son’s third birthday, she smoked marijuana in concoction with the methamphetamine that she used the day before.
She was unconscious for a number of hours as her son was locked outside, alone, in the freezing 21-degree weather.
Sadly, police had found smudge marks from the toddler on the windows – showing his attempts to get back inside to warmth.
Landyn had ‘blood on his face, however an autopsy showed no signs of trauma,’ according to the newspaper.
Assistant District Attorney Michelle Lippert said that she was shocked the officer at the scene didn’t ‘break the storm door glass’ from knocking so violently afterward.
“She was supposed to be supervising this child,’ Lippert argued. ‘He had just turned 3, he was outside.
‘By her own admission, she was sleeping harder than normal. She didn’t hear him — didn’t hear him leave the room, didn’t hear him leave the house, didn’t hear him banging on the door. She was asleep while he was freezing to death.’
Her boyfriend, Joshua Steffey, who was also inside the house and admitted to being high, answered the door.
Residents of the neighborhood are now ‘calling for her blood,‘ Webster said.
Basinger, who’s a mother to one other young child, will be required to undergo a substance abuse assessment and acquiesce to the orders of the Department of Social Services.
‘The court system, all of us will move on. We’ll go on to other things … She’ll never go on. She’ll never be able to move past this,’ Webster added.