Mom sentenced for allowing boyfriend to fatally beat toddler who put shoes on the wrong feet
06/20/2023 2:49 pm PDT
TEMPLE, Texas (TCD) -- A 31-year-old woman was sentenced to 14 years in prison for failing to stop her boyfriend from fatally beating her 2-year-old daughter just days before the girl's birthday.
Bell County court records show Ashley McAlpine was found guilty June 7 of injury of a child with intent to cause severe bodily injury and was later sentenced to 16 years in prison. She received 903 days of time served.
According to the Killeen Daily Herald, on Sept. 22, 2019, Temple Police responded to a home on the 800 block of South 11th Street and found Shannah McAlpine not breathing. Her body was reportedly covered in bruises and she later died from her injuries.
Court documents cited by the Killeen Daily Herald report on the day the police came, McAlpine, McAlpine’s boyfriend Jadin Nunez, Shannah, and her brother were about to go to a store to purchase items for Shannah’s upcoming birthday party, but Shannah’s shoes were on the wrong feet. Nunez reportedly hit Shannah in the head, then punched her several times.
McAlpine reportedly took Shannah to another room to lie down, but Nunez walked in and choked the child for several minutes. Hours later, McAlpine heard Shannah crying and tried to put her in the shower. Shannah, however, could not stand up on her own.
McAlpine called police at 2:49 a.m., and Shannah was pronounced dead less than 45 minutes later at 3:31 a.m.
KWKT-TV reports Shannah died from blunt force trauma to the abdomen.
Police arrested Nunez on Sept. 24, 2019, on suspicion of murder. The Killeen Daily Herald reports a jury convicted him of capital murder in October 2021, and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
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