00:23:55.880An Indianapolis mother is found not guilty after being accused of neglect, resulting in the death of her two-month-old daughter.
00:24:02.880Inside a home on Burton Avenue in August 2022, police found a two-month-old girl unresponsive.
00:24:07.420The newborn child, identified as Alona Lacey, died on the scene.
00:24:10.280Five months later, in January 2023, the girl's mother, Dasha Lacey, was charged with causing her child's death.
00:24:18.920Before announcing his verdict, Judge Mark Stoner told the suspect she was a bad parent and she was not innocent.
00:24:24.260The judge believed she was guilty of involuntary manslaughter, but because she wasn't charged with that crime, he instead found her not guilty of neglect, resulting in death.
00:24:33.460Court records show that the mother gave a lengthy confession in which she tearfully admitted she smothered her daughter in the couch cushions because she was high on meth and wanted the child to stop crying and be quiet so she could get some sleep.
00:24:44.020At the end of her trial, Judge Stoner chastised Lacey, saying her actions were reckless.
00:24:48.580Stoner, though, insisted prosecutors didn't prove that she intentionally harmed her daughter.
00:24:53.320Stoner told prosecutors that they charged the suspect with the wrong crime.
00:24:56.400So, all right, so this sounds really bad.
00:25:00.280Not just the crime itself, which is obviously heinous, but the fact that she was found not guilty, it sounds bad.
00:25:06.960The woman killed her infant child, admitted it, said what the reason was, not that there could possibly be a justifiable reason, obviously, but the reason is she was annoyed that the child was crying, and yet she's found not guilty by the judge.
00:25:39.500Court accordingly enters judgment of not guilty, reluctantly.
00:25:47.300I do hope that you all take the opportunity to get the counseling that you need, to get the counseling for the children that you need.
00:25:57.800I do hope that you learn from this behavior, and hopefully the rest of the community learns from this behavior, that you cannot go out and party on the weekend and be with children.
00:26:12.120The play may not have been a safe place to put...
00:26:14.580Toxicology report did show meth in Dacia Lacey's system, but Judge Mark Stoner said if she had been charged with reckless homicide or involuntary manslaughter, he could have found her guilty.
00:26:26.740But she's not guilty of neglect of a dependent resulting in death.
00:27:17.760I mean, as cynical as I am, as little faith as I have in the criminal justice system, if you played me just the judge's speech to the woman without context, and then you told me what crime she committed, I would not believe you.