A Florida woman has been sentenced to prison, following the 2021 death of her 3-month-old son.
In August, a Sarasota jury found Lily Scheip, 35, guilty of manslaughter in connection with the death of her son, Dominic, ABC 7 reports.
On Monday, a judge sentenced Scheip to 10 years behind bars, with credit served since her 2022 arrest. She was also sentenced to four years on probation.
Scheip had initially been charged with second-degree murder, but under Florida law, the prosecution must prove that the defendant acted with a “depraved mind,” or disregard for human life.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, police responded to a Sarasota home on November 8, 2021, after receiving a report of an unconscious infant. A 911 caller claimed that Scheip came to her door with the baby.
The neighbor, who worked as a nurse, performed CPR until first responders arrived. First responders then transported Dominic to a hospital, where he died two days later.
Officials said Dominic did not have obvious injuries, but doctors later discovered evidence of head trauma.
Scheip admitted to being with the infant when he stopped breathing, along with the baby’s older brother. Her husband had been away for the day, according to Law&Crime.
Officials ultimately deemed his death a homicide. Medical staff stated that Scheip would have been “the only person who could have delivered the blunt force impacts.”
Scheip later told investigators that she put the baby in his bassinet, and watched television with her other child. When she checked on Dominic around 20 minutes later, he didn’t respond.
She later admitted that she had dropped the infant from a recliner in September 2021. Investigators then determined that since his birth in August 2021, Dominic had a “series of” unexplainable injuries.
“The investigation revealed the child previously suffered two broken legs in September from an apparent accidental fall,” Sarasota police previously said.
“Following an autopsy, detectives learned there was one partially healed skull fracture and at least two recent impact injuries to the back of the infant’s head while he was in the exclusive care of Scheip.”
During the trial, the defense successfully reduced the charges from murder to manslaughter, after proving Scheip didn’t act with intentional malice.
Meanwhile, in a statement, family members said they were relieved that the trial was over, but some, including her in-laws, were disappointed with the sentence. Her brother-in-law stated that the ordeal “aged my parents before my eyes.”
“The victim’s family had to suffer through almost (four) years of pain from the time of the death to the time of the verdict,” the family said.
“Every time a trial date was continued, the defense was delayed, or the dates rescheduled, we were traumatized all over again, unable to fully heal.”
Scheip’s parents continue to defend her, with her mother claiming that she could not “imagine, in my wildest imagination, her hurting my grandson intentionally.”
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[Feature Photo: Dominic Scheip/Dignity Memorial]
