A North Little Rock mother of three has been sentenced to eight years in prison for inflicting bone-breaking injuries on her youngest child, her 5-month-old son.
Sentencing papers filed on Thursday by deputy prosecutor Jayme Butts-Hall show that Quintina Lashay Morgan, 20, pleaded guilty to first-degree domestic battery, endangering the welfare of a child and failure to appear. In exchange, she received an eight-year prison term imposed by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright.
Under the terms of Morgan's guilty plea, negotiated by defense attorney Joe Joslin, prosecutors reduced the battery charge from a Class Y felony, which carries a potential life sentence, to a Class B felony, which has a penalty range of five to 20 years in prison.
Court records show that about a week before Thanksgiving 2017, detective Lonnell Tims was called to Arkansas Children's Hospital, where the boy, Ladetrick Harris Jr., was being treated for a skull fracture, older multiple right femur fractures that were healing, a left tibia fracture and left-rear rib fractures.
Morgan told the investigator that she was the baby's only caretaker, but that she had never abused him and had no idea how he was injured.
Morgan's mother, Sandra Renee Ashley, 43, told the detective that she had noticed the infant had a swollen right leg a few days before he was taken to the hospital.
Authorities estimated the infant's injuries had been inflicted sometime over the previous month, between Oct. 23, 2017, and Nov. 22, 2017, court filings show. Morgan was arrested about two weeks after the baby was taken to the hospital.
In a separate case, Morgan was convicted in January 2018 for aggravated assault on a family member and misdemeanor domestic battery, court records show. She pleaded guilty in that case in exchange for five years on probation, with the condition that she undergo anger management.
In that case, Morgan was arrested in June 2017 after biting her sister, Lashonda Martin, 22, on the back and trying to stab her with kitchen knives during an argument about TV at the family home at 1701 Allen St. Police saw a bite mark on Martin's back, a police report said.
Ashley called 911 and told police that she had managed to take a knife away from Morgan, but that Morgan got a second knife, according to the report.
Morgan was holding a knife when police arrived, and officers heard her yell, "I tried to cut that [b****]," the report said.
Metro on 07/02/2019