A southern Indiana jury found a stepmother guilty of two of the four charges filed against her in the death of her 3-year-old stepdaughter last year.
According to court documents, Ashanti Jackson of Indianapolis was found guilty of aggravated battery and neglect of a dependent, resulting in damage, by a Clark County jury on Friday after deliberating for 7.5 hours. Jackson could potentially spend up to 46 years in jail for both charges.
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According to a probable cause document, an investigation began on August 22, 2023, when a detective from Clarksville, Indiana, arrived at Norton Children’s Hospital in downtown Louisville after a 3-year-old was transported there from the Clarksville Suburban Motel. That’s off Broadway Street, off Veterans Parkway.
First responders were informed that the child had been hurt after falling from a bed during a seizure. Doctors who evaluated the youngster found that her injuries were the result of “non-accidental trauma” and were life-threatening.
According to court filings, surgeons had to remove a portion of the child’s skull due to excessive brain swelling. The infant, identified by her mother to WDRB at the time as Mehlani, was not expected to live, and she was removed from life support on August 24, 2023, when physicians found there was no brain activity.
The final autopsy report was issued on December 12. According to the report, the 3-year-old “was assaulted,” and her death was declared a homicide. According to the report, she died from hard impact injuries to the head “in the setting of battered child syndrome.”
The coroner’s report also said that the kid sustained “a significant traumatic injury to her abdomen.” They discovered a rupture in her mesentery, a membrane that connects the intestine to the wall of the stomach. The damage is suspected to have occurred up to two weeks before the girl was hospitalized, and it most likely caused her “to endure pain and suffering.”
According to police, Jackson attempted to revive the girl before phoning 911 by immersing her in a cold bath.
On Friday, the jury found Jackson not guilty of abandonment of a dependent resulting in death and battery causing serious damage to a minor under the age of 14.
Jackson is set to be sentenced on October 6.
