Kansas Mom Enters Plea in Baby Blow Dryer Death

This is a tragic accident. My condolences for the loss of the baby. Eleven years in custody for an accident is pretty harsh. There are mothers that have committed worse and have received less. Instead of dragging this already devestated mother into a courtroom, maybe offer some compassion, mental health counselling or a prayer?

I’m not buying the “I fell asleep” story. A baby that is slowly burning to death would have made a lot of noise before passing out. Hormones make new mothers susceptible to every tiny noise a baby makes. The slightest peep could rouse a mom out of a deep sleep. This woman has a history of violence. Put the two together and its looking more like she tortured her baby to death and came up with a passable cover story. I have a hard time having sympathy for her when she did something so stupid. All you have to do is hold a baby in your arms to warm them up.

A person has acted negligently if he or she has departed from the conduct expected of a reasonably prudent person acting under similar circumstances. The prosecutor stated that this act is beyond negligent. How so? Are they arguing intent? The only argument here is whether or not this woman realized she was being negligent.

This DA needs to take a hard look at which cases he is prosecuting and more importantly, which cases he is NOT prosecuting because of limited time and resources. This woman made a horrible mistake, but it was a MISTAKE. The DA needs to think about which CRIMINALS are going un-prosecuted because of this case…

Jenny, I think you misunderstand the news story. The child did not burn to death, she overheated, much like being left in a hot car or having too high of a fever.
This sounds like an accident, partly the result of the sleep deprivation that new moms go through.
I question the wisdom of the DA pursuing this case. All this woman needs is good counseling to deal with the guilt of this accidental death. There is nothing to indicate that she is a danger to the public or her other child. That should be the criteria for putting anyone in jail, as it ruins lives and costs us taxpayers $40k a year per inmate.

What a horrible accident. Yes, the mother was negligent in that she didn’t check on the baby, but she was trying to do the right thing by keeping the baby warm. Unfortunately, the right thing went terribly wrong. I think this woman losing her child is enough punishment. It was a horrible accident. Leave the poor thing alone.

Why is the DA charging her for an accident?
She’s dumb, but not a killer.

This was a terrible tragedy! This poor Mom probably believes she deserves to be punished for doing what she felt was a good solution at the time. As a Mom I think of all the tragedies that could have happened and did not: The time my son escaped the fenced yard and went near the street or the time my daughter went running up the stairs to avoid punishment and I grabbed her arm and she could have fallen but didn’t. Then there is the one that DID happen I layed my baby in my water bed thinking of it as a warm place he could not roll off the bed from and as precation placed pillows around the sides..He rolled to the headboard and became caught between that and the mattress and yes I felt I killed my baby son because I layed him there Thank God I had supportive people around me to reasure me that it was an accident! Horrible things can happen and do happen. No one is immune to tragedy. There is so many could have, would have and should have things we do as humans!

This sounds like more like an accident caused by a young mother who had little idea how to take care of a baby properly.

I feel for this mom, unfortunately our kids do not come with a manual on how to raise them. And unfortunately there were a few actions that on their own would not have resulted in this child’s death, but together lead to an uforgettable tragedy. The blow dryer was a few feet away, not close enough to directly burn the baby, tragically combined with the hooded bassinet it created a oven like effect that this young mom had no way of knowing it would do. Maybe she was frustrated with the baby crying and was trying to soothe the baby as well as eliminate herself from the child’s presence so as not to “lose it” as some do, and it ended this way. She is suffering more than anyone can understand and is probably still dealing with the “what ifs?” With all the parents who are straight out murdering their children nowadays, why are they going to continue torturing a mother who was only trying to do the best she could?

As to the criminal charges for violence, it could easily be argued that the stress and anguish from losing her daughter and the subsequent trials, finally culminated in an act of rage, the proverbila “straw that broke the camels back”. Or it could be a reoccurring act of jealousy, not personally knowing this woman, I can’t say. But either way I really think this woman needs support and counseling to overcome this tragedy, not jail time.

She looks stoned in this picture…. maybe she was too preoccupied with herself?

If she really cared about the baby why did she move the bassinet into the bathroom.. wouldnt it have been easier to move the hair dryer into your room then the bassinet?

IF SHE COULDN’T AFFORD TO HEAT THE HOME FOR THE FIRST CHILD SHE DID NOT NEED TO HAVE ANOTHER ONE.

Then why don’t we ever prosecute people who leave their babies in hot cars to BAKE for hours?

First of all, there are a lot of people on here speaking ill of the mother. How many of you knew all of the right things to do when you had children? Some things seem like common sense, but common sense to whom? If you have never had a child and lived a simple life, some things that might seem stupid to others might make sense to you. This girl is 20 now and she was younger when she had the child. Maybe her mother warmed an area with a bow dryer. Maybe that is all she knew. It wasn’t smart, but I can honestly see how a young, inexperienced mother could think that using a hair dryer would keep her child warm. If kids were born with manuals and she didn’t follow the manual, I would say hang her by her toenails. However, kids don’t have manuals and you do the best you can with the knowledge you have. This girl may have been ignorant, but she wasn’t trying to kill her child.

this was a tragic accident. How sad and stupid,but who would imagine something like that would happen,I’m sure she didn’t. And what about the boyfriend? was he arrested too?

For the comments stating the “new” mother was possibly tired/sleep deprived and that this was a tragic accident…REALLY?!!! This tragedy is inexcusable – since when do you warm a baby with an electrical device and leave him/her alone? Come on with the sympathetic excuses. This woman had another baby since this incident. May the child rest in peace and God bless the second child born afterwards, placing him/her in safe, loving care.

I do not believe that this woman should have ever have been charged with a crime. Obviously she lacks in intelligence, which is not a crime. She should have know that the air coming out got hot enough to burn flesh if the stream was directed toward it. When a woman has a newborn she is over come with exhaustion so she may well hae thought she had it far enough from the baby so it would not be burnt thru a blanket. When the bathroom became warm the exhastion she has from the pregnancy and birth would make her unable to stay awake. She committed no crime.

are you kidding me! i am so speechless! what a stupid thing to do.

I was 19 when I had my first child. I’m 24 and I still think she should go to jail! This is no accident. I still holt awake to the tiniest sound my children wake, and they’re on a different floor.

My guess? The volume was put up high enough to cover up any sound the baby would make. Her ‘boyfriend’ should have stayed awake if she was gonna sleep. I do not think 11 years is good enough. A Life for a Life.

What in God’s name is wrong with you people? I know someone, chiropractor, who frequently warms himself with a hair dryer while sleeping. He’s done it for years. According to the article theres no evidence of harmful intent. On the contrary, she took extra care to ensure the baby wouldn’t become chilled. Bloodthirsty comments calling for the mother’s head are WAY out of line. We should become more understanding but all I see is an already punitive society decaying further. I hear there’s a city in Chicago wanting to make falling asleep with YOUR infant in bed a crime. Can’t wait to see the wolves circling around that one.

With limited life experience this young mom was doing her best with the resources she had to keep her baby warm and safe. She made a tragic mistake and her innocent child lost her life. But she was trying to do the right thing. I also see that they are throwing the book at the mother and not charging the other parent, the father, with anything, even though he was there. In their harsh minds shouldn’t that mean he too should have been aware of the situation, checked on the baby at some point etc? Too many people are overly harsh on mothers and do not hold fathers to the same standard and it’s getting old. Also: No parent can monitor their baby every hour of every day. It has never happened, and it never will.

Here is what happened. She and her boyfriend are most likely heroin addicts and therefore could not keep up with the heating bill. So one cold night while they were both high she stupidly decided to stick her baby in the bathroom with a hair dryer pointing at the baby to keep it warm (even taking the hair dryer out into the room they were in would have been a better option at this, while still stupid), and she probably even kept the door closed to “keep in the heat”. Then, in their opiate stupor they both fell asleep while the poor baby burned and overheated alive.
There really is no mystery here…somehow, someway, drugs are involved and her addiction cost this baby it’s life.
Just take a good look at her and you can tell something is not right, and I have no doubt her boyfriend is just as stupid as she is. Birds of a feather flock together and now we have to worry about what might happen to the other child as well…

I really can’t believe some of these comments smh!!! Some say it was an accident because of her age other say she thought what she was doing was harmless well I say bull!!! First let me start of by saying I was raised in the ghetto (I’m not proud but it’s relevant) where girls at the age of 13 & older have kids & I’ve seen them take very good care of their babies & know not to do anything that crazy or stupid (yes at that age). Second no matter how old a person is when it’s extremely hot you will hear some type of complaint!!! Third look at her mugshot she was clearly HIGH & fell asleep that’s why she never got up to check up on the baby!!! Ok yes 11 years is too much but saying it was an accident & lesson learned is definitely NOT an option!! Look at it this way she now has another child what if she screws up again & somehow kills this one of course the defense will say it was due to the trauma of her first child so what are you people going to say then it’s still ok? No it shouldn’t how many babies will have to die in her hands for you guys to see the picture?

It’s clear to me that many of the people here have no clue what it is like to sleep in a house that’s drafy with no heat. Use a blanket? Really? I live in Florida and on some of the colder nights, even here, a blanket is not nearly enough. I’ve slept in thermal underwear, sweat pants, a long-sleeved pajama dress, a sweater with a sheet and a quilt over me and still been freezing. Not the best of ideas, no, but she clearly meant no harm. If she had, she could have come up with a less ridiculous way of managing it.

I’m surprised that her defense attorney didn’t object to the plea with insistence on a series of psychological evaluations. The fact that the first Jury was unable to return a guilty verdict should tell us all we need to know …. the prosecutor obviously used discretion when considering bring charges against the father ( who was aware of the warming method ) perhaps after the first jury failed to convict the prosecutor should have used the same discretion with regard to the mother…
Now the mothers son will have to grow up with a mother in Prison all very sad …

Lets see here . . . locking yer kid in the BR, the sound of the hairdryer muffling it’s screams while it slowly cooks – while U *finally* get some sweet, uninterrupted sleep! Mmm-yeah, this is more than stoopid – this is a “What a pain-in-the-butt-this-kid-is” situation coming home to roost. Too bad it’ll be the last great nite of sleep she’ll get 4 awhile. I hear it’s kinda cold & drafty in those prisons – mebbe somebody will help a Grl out! Sounds fair 2me!

This family has had multiple issues with children – several have died. Her brother is in jail (search for Hippen) for allegedly beating his girlfriends child. Another Hippen was found a couple years ago to be molesting children. At what point does the government need to step in and limit this garbage? And now she’s also being charged with slapping a woman who danced with her boyfriend and doing damage to the woman’s car. Yup…this is one we need to save….sheesh.