Young mother gets 10 years for involuntary manslaughter of infant left in hot car
Samantha Donohoe (center) stands crying between her two defense attorneys, Holly Hanni (back) and Katherine Rudzik (front), during her sentencing hearing.
April 29, 2019
The mother that pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of her nearly two-month-old baby was sentenced to a decade in prison Monday morning.
Samantha Donohoe’s youngest child died on Sept. 4, 2018, after the mother left the 52 day-old baby inside her car on one of the hottest days of the year.
“This child suffered in a way that’s hard for the state to explain,” Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Ron Welch said during Donohoe’s sentencing hearing.
Welch said the idea that the infant was “essentially being cooked from the inside out for two hours” was inconceivable and reminded Judge Mark Fleegle that Donohoe had committed the worst version of her offenses since the victim was a baby.
Allegedly, Donohoe’s husband was not supposed to be in the apartment at the time the baby was left in the car as he had domestic violence charges against him. Due to those charges, Child Protective Services had already been involved with the family prior to the child’s death.
Welch stated the victim in this case was conceived in an attempt to replace another child of Donohoe’s that died while in her care. The couple had lost another infant 18 months prior when Donohoe fell asleep on the couch with her one-month-old daughter and suffocated her to death.
Welch said Donohoe felt that replacing her baby would reconcile her relationship with her husband. The two met up outside of the home after her husband’s domestic violence charges with the intent to conceive a child.
Donohoe indicated to investigators that she was abused throughout the duration of their relationship, which affected her ability to properly parent, although she still said her husband was not a bad guy, Welch said in court.
Additionally, Donohoe admitted to being a daily user of both marijuana and Xanax, both of which she was using the day her child died.
The defense agreed with Welch’s claims that Donohoe was in an abusive relationship that caused her parenting to fall short.
“The outcome of this could not be more tragic. A baby died … But it was a tragic accident,” Donohoe’s defense attorney, Katherine Rudzik, stated in court. She went on to state that mistakes happen, and this specific accident happens to mothers across the country, regardless of their living environment.
Rudzik went on to say that Donohoe took on too much as a young mother who was living in a very stressful environment.
During her chance to address the court, Donohoe said not a day goes by that she doesn’t think about her son. She understands that it was her duty to protect her child, and she failed to do that.
“No one’s opinion of me could be worse than my own opinion of myself,” Donohoe said after stating that any judicial punishment she would receive would not compare to the punishment she has to live with everyday knowing that her child died in her care.
After imposing a 10-year sentence, Judge Mark Fleegle reminded Donohoe that when she arrived home that day she remembered to take the Red Bull, cigarettes and diaper bag into the home with her and did not remember her sleeping, 52-day old child.
“It’s already happened twice. How many times does it have to happen before it becomes a pattern,” Fleegle asked Donohoe in court, referring to her first child that died while co-sleeping with her 18 months prior.
Many people lined the back of the courtroom in support of Donohoe, although courtroom policy restricted any of them from speaking out or reading letter on behalf of the young mother.
Shortly after her sentencing, Donohoe had to be escorted out of the courtroom since she could not control her crying.
In April, Donohoe pleaded guilty to one first-degree felony count of involuntary manslaughter and one third-degree felony count of endangering children.
During Donohoe’s plea hearing, Welch stated that Donohoe told authorities the child had been in the car for about 30 minutes after the two arrived home after running an errand. Donohoe grabbed bags from the car and went inside, leaving her baby, who had fallen asleep, in the backseat.
Donohoe lived at the Eagleview Apartments with her husband and two other children during the time of the incident.
First responders were dispatched to the apartments just before 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 4 in reference to an unresponsive child. Upon the arrival of Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office deputies and EMS, Donohoe and her husband were found in the back bedroom of their apartment performing CPR on the baby.
The child was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m.
On Sept. 4, the temperature reached 93 degrees mid-afternoon. In court, Welch stated that the heat index around 4 p.m. was 97 degrees, and authorities stated that the vehicle the child was left in was in direct sunlight, which could have caused temperatures inside the car to exceed 130 degrees.
The baby’s core temperature was 110 degrees.
According to Muskingum County Prosecutor Mike Haddox in a previous Y-City News report, the first child that died in Donohoe’s car was a 31 day-old infant. That child’s death was ruled accidental as the two were co-sleeping.
Haddox added that Donohoe’s husband is not being charged since he was in bed asleep at the time the incident occurred.
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Kathleen Hartman • May 4, 2019 at 1:11 pm
So one child dies from neglect. There is domestic violence in the home. She is using pot and Xanax daily and Children’s Services leaves three children in her care. This is what is the matter with this system that we have to protect children. It does not protect them. It gives incompetent parents way to many chances with their children and this causes too many children’s deaths. The blood of these two children is on the hands of Children’s Services. They AGAIN did NOT do their job!
Cheryl • May 2, 2019 at 3:14 pm
HOW Can U forget Ur child in the backseat??? Guilty of STUPIDITY. This never happened in the 80’s & 90’s GET OFF UR PHONE & PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT UR DOING!!!