Arkansas mom gets 5 years of probation in washing-machine death of daughter

An Arkansas mom will serve five years probation after pleading guilty in the washing-machine death of her daughter.

Brooke Haney, 25, of Hampton entered the plea on two counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor related to two incidents, records filed April 20 in Calhoun County Circuit Court show.

The mother received 60 months of probation for each class D felony count, with the sentences to run concurrently, according to the filing.

Haney told the Hampton Police Department on Oct. 25, 2015, that she had taken a nap around noon with her 3-year-old daughter, Alexis Haney, and Brooklyn, then 10 months old, at a home in the 400 block of Tina Street in Hampton.

Around 1:15 p.m. that day, she awoke to find that Alexis was not in her bedroom, prompting her to search the house.

Haney and a neighbor later found Alexis inside a washing machine, according to the affidavit.

The girl had suffered “scalding and thermal injuries” after the lid to the washing machine was closed and caused a preset cycle to start, authorities said.

Alexis was pronounced dead about an hour later at the Medical Center of South Arkansas in El Dorado.

One of Haney’s three daughters, whose identity was not released, told police that she and Alexis were routinely asked to help with laundry, Arkansas Online previously reported.

At times, that meant that one of them would climb into the washing machine to get clothes and place them into the dryer, she said.

The second child-endangerment charge stemmed from an Aug. 21, 2015, incident in which Haney was pulled over by a police officer after showing behavior indicative of someone unfit to drive, according to authorities. Her then-7-month-old infant daughter was in the back seat.

Haney failed several field sobriety tests and did not have a valid prescription for pills found at the time, records show.

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