An Ohio babysitter who was watching a 2-year-old girl when the toddler suffered fatal head injuries learned her fate this week.
The Richland Source reported that Allison Nething, 20, was sentenced to 11 years in prison Wednesday for the April 2016 death of Marley Milner. The victim’s relatives claimed the child suffered such a violent blow to the head that had she survived she wouldn’t be able to walk, see, or eat on her own.
“In short, her injury was so severe that this could have been done in an emergency room with brain surgeons standing by at the ready and they could not have saved her,” Richland County prosecutor Gary Bishop said in court.
A family member reportedly took Milner to OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital, where doctors determined she suffered a subdural brain bleed. The child died at Nationwide Children’s Hospital as doctors performed emergency surgery, according to WMFD.
The Richland County Coroner’s office listed Milner’s cause of death as blunt force head trauma. Bishop also claimed that the 2-year-old fatal injuries weren’t caused by previous injuries or a brain hemorrhage.
Detectives looked into who had contact with Milner in the 72 hours leading up to her death. In doing so, they found that Nething was watching the child on April 5, 2016, when the fatal incident occurred.
“All the experts agree, Marley became almost immediately unconscious and never regained consciousness,” the prosecutor said. “When this injury was inflicted, she was basically killed at that time.”
“So she went from being an active, alert, playful, loving 2 ½-year-old little girl to dead in the space of an afternoon, really in the space of a few minutes.”
Reports indicate that Nething had watched Milner for three months before she died.
Nething was sentenced days after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges. Authorities had originally charged the 20-year-old with murder and two counts of child endangerment in connection with the girl’s death, the newspaper noted.
The Ohio woman is reportedly ineligible for early release. She was also ordered to pay $1,000 to the victim’s grandparents and will participate in post-release control for five years.
[Featured Image: Allison Nething/Richland County Jail]
