Left: Sarah Newsom (Wichita County Jail). Right: Scarlette “Olivia” Newsom (GoFundMe).
A Texas mother will spend decades behind bars for the death of her 2-year-old baby girl – capping a yearslong legal battle by Lone Star State prosecutors to punish the adults responsible for the crime.
On Monday, Sarah Elizabeth Newsom, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of injury to a child by failing to protect resulting in serious bodily injury, according to Clay County records reviewed by Law&Crime.
In short order, the defendant was sentenced to 22 years in state prison by 97th Judicial District Court Judge Trish Coleman Byars.
Previously out on bail since 2022, Newsom was immediately taken back into custody by the Clay County Sheriff”s Office to begin serving her sentence for the toddler’s slaying. Early on Tuesday, she was detained in the Wichita County Jail.
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The underlying incident occurred on Oct. 18, 2018, when Scarlette “Olivia” Newsom was severely beaten by Joshua Thomas Fulbright, 30, and ended up at Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth.
On that day, Newsom initially brought Olivia in to the emergency room at Clay County Memorial Hospital wrapped in a blanket and told officials the little girl “had the flu,” according to a courtroom report by Wichita Falls-based NBC affiliate KFDX.
But that wasn’t the case at all.
Rather, the child’s face was covered in bruises. The witness went on to describe the night as “horrific” and said of the unresponsive girl, that she was “limp and floppy” and “wasn’t sure if she was alive.”
“Not a surface on the child that had no injuries,” the witness testified during the first day of Fulbright’s trial which began in February.
On March 10, Fulbright was convicted of capital murder.
The third time was the charm for prosecutors in Montague County – which is adjacent to Clay County and which, combined with Archer County, make up the 97th Judicial District. The state attempted to try Fulbright twice before. A mistrial was declared in 2019 after a jury could not be seated out of the respective juror pool; a second mistrial was declared in 2022 after the defendant’s own attorney was arrested, according to KFDX and the Times Record News.
During the man’s trial, Newsom took the stand, KFDX reported.
She described leaving her daughter with her then-boyfriend while she went to work. But, soon things changed, the mother testified.
“I never witnessed her mad with anyone,” she said. “It was new and different.”
Left to right: Joshua Fulbright and Sarah Newsom in 2019 (Clay County Sheriff’s Office).
The mother went on to testify Fulbright began punishing her daughter with time-outs, then with forcing the little girl to squat against the wall — sometimes up to 10 minutes at a time. Then, as the punishments grew more intense, the girl would falter and could not complete them. In those instances, Fulbright would begin by spanking the child — who was not his daughter — ultimately beating Olivia all over her body.
“Why did you let him do that?” 97th Judicial District Attorney Katie Boggeman asked.
To which Newsom replied: “I didn’t have a choice.”
On at least one occasion, Newsom admittedly slapped her daughter in an effort to bring her out of seizure-like behavior, according to court documents obtained by the Record News.
“These evil acts on this angel has absolutely stopped the families world from spinning,” Olivia’s aunt wrote in a GoFundMe for funeral expenses.
Fulbright, for his part, is currently appealing the judgment and sentence — alleging the court improperly excluded testimony favorable to the defense and that prosecutors were vindictive.
In accepting a plea deal, however, Newsom waived her right to appeal.
In a statement provided to the local TV station, Boggeman said the plea agreement was made “after a lot of consideration.”
“As a mom, I don’t know any amount of time is enough, but it was the right move for our county and to finally let that baby rest in peace,” the prosecutor added.
