A Leavenworth County mother was sentenced to jail in court for the death of her one-year-old daughter in 2023.
The defendant, identified as 24-year-old Liberti Figueroa, was convicted in August this year of two counts of aggravated endangerment of a child. The charge comes after her infant daughter, Saraphina Avarose Sanchez, died from head-related injuries.
Mother Sentenced to Prison Over Daughter's Death
The jury in the case acquitted the mother of involuntary manslaughter during the two-day trial in Leavenworth County District Court. During Figueroa's sentencing hearing, held on Wednesday, the mother was sentenced to six months in prison on each charge against her, totaling 12 months.
The judge overseeing Figueroa's case suspended the defendant's sentence and placed the mother, who had already served a total of 170 days in the Leavenworth County Jail, on probation.
Court records also showed that on the evening of Oct. 18, 2023, police officers responded to a call to the Woodland Village Apartments. This was after reports came in that a one-year-old girl in the area was not breathing, according to Fox4KC.
Read more: South Florida Matriarch Sentenced to Life in Prison Over Hired Killing of Former Son-In-Law
After officers arrived at the scene, they quickly transported the little girl to a hospital to be treated for multiple injuries. However, she unfortunately died later that night. A day after her death, Figueroa shifted the blame for her daughter's death to her husband.
At the time, she said, "He says, 'Oh no! Your son dropped her out of a crib.' My son is four! Four! My daughter has been bleeding like that, and he's four. He wouldn't do that to her." Court records showed that on the morning of Oct. 18, 2023, the mother left for work at around 9:00 a.m. and asked her then-boyfriend to watch her children.
Inconsistent Information on Injuries
However, the injuries that officers found on the child were not consistent with the information that they were given when they questioned the family. An autopsy later revealed that the infant died from "head trauma that caused internal bleeding," The Kansas City Star reported.
It was revealed in September 2023 that Figueroa was in an upstairs bedroom at her Leavenworth apartment when an ashtray supposedly fell onto her daughter, who was lying on a bed.
While Figueroa was not directly accused of inflicting the injuries on her daughter, prosecutors said that the mother "acted recklessly by causing or permitting a child under the age of 18 to be placed in a situation where the child's life, body, or health was endangered - ultimately resulting in the child's death," as per KCTV5.
