Mom Gets Life for Baby's Dryer Death

Mom Gets Life for Baby's
Dryer Death

Published : Wednesday, 01 Apr 2009, 1:55 PM CDT

BOGALUSA, La. - A woman convicted of second-degree murder for putting her 3-month-old son in the dryer has been formally sentenced to life in prison.

The district attorney's office said Lakeisha Shanae Adams was formally sentenced last week for the death of Jailand Adams.

The only possible sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison.

A state District Court jury convicted Adams on March 14, by an 11-1 vote.

Adams was 18 years old when the baby died.

When she called 911, she said she took out her trash, saw a man in black and -- when she got back into her house -- found her baby's body in the dryer.

The autopsy found head trauma and second- and third-degree burns over half the baby's body.

9-1-1 tape played in trial of infant’s murder

By Jacob Brooks
The Daily News
Published/Last Modified on Friday, March 13, 2009 9:32 AM CDT

FRANKLINTON� -- Jurors listened to a recording of an emergency phone call and heard various testimonies Wednesday in the murder trial of a Bogalusa woman charged with tossing her 3-month-old son into a dryer and then turning the machine on.

Lakeisha Shanae Adams, who was 18 on Dec. 5, 2005, when the incident occurred, is charged with second-degree murder for the death of her child, Jaylin.

Inside the Washington Parish Courthouse in Franklinton, Jurors listened intently as a 9-1-1 tape recording of the initial call was played for the courtroom. The call, which came in at 6:50 p.m. the night of the incident, was of a female identified as Lakeisha Adams

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“Somebody killed my baby,” Adams said, screaming and crying.

She told the police officer on the other end of line that she went outside to take something to the garbage. When she went back to the door, it was locked.

“Somebody was in the house, cause the door was locked,” Adams said in the recording. When the officer asked who harmed the baby, Adams said she did not know, but the person “was wearing all black.”

When she reentered the house, Adams said she found her infant son in the dryer.

Jurors also heard from Dr. Michael DeFatta, an employee of the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office who performed the autopsy on the 3-month-old victim.

Second- and third-degree burns covered 50 percent of the infant’s body, which is a lethal amount for a child, he said. Burns were spread across the baby's entire body: face, arms, legs and other areas, he added.

“The burns were red and the skin had slipped off,” DeFatta said, describing the wounds.

Cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head combined with the burns, he said later.

There was a “significant amount of hemorrhaging” to the baby’s scalp and clear evidence the baby had taken very serious blows to the head, DeFatta said.

At one point in DeFatta’s testimony, the prosecuting attorney showed him three photographs, which DeFatta verified as being of the victim’s wounds. The photographs were not shown to the jurors or the courtroom during DeFatta’s testimony.

Other than the wounds that caused the infant’s death, the baby seemed well nourished for its age and size, 11 pounds, DeFatta said. There were no existing scars or signs of illness, he said.

DeFatta said police had told him the cause of death was “child abuse,” which he indicated on his coroner’s report.

However, Adam’s defense attorney took exception with that note.

“You don’t know who did this, correct?” the defense attorney asked.

“That is correct,” DeFatta replied.

Adams, sitting next to her defense attorneys, remained motionless for most of the proceedings. She sat silently looking towards the floor with a black jacket draped over her arms.

More testimony is expected to come in the trial Thursday.

According to Bogalusa police, Adams confessed to the crime and was originally charged with first-degree murder. In January 2006 a grand jury indicted her with second-degree murder. In June 2008, she was examined by the Feliciana Forensics Center and found to be competent to stand trial.

I cant believe that anyone is able to do something like that, especialy the mother of a child... I just cant believe it...
As far as punishment, I would say she deserves one in a way eye for an eye... I believe thats the best punishment for all crimes. Murderers, rapers, molesters,etc., they should all suffer the same way their victims did.