A Michigan mother will spend the next 20 to 80 years in prison for the death of her 6-month-old son—who she left strapped in a car seat in a hot attic for 32 hours as she partied and did drugs with friends.
On Thursday, Lovily Johnson, 23, apologized for the July 2017 death of her son, Noah Johnson, who died in an attic apartment without air conditioning. An autopsy revealed the infant went without food and water and had suffered from a diaper rash so severe that several areas of his skin had fallen off, according to WZZM.
At the time of Noah’s death, the single mother was out partying and doing drugs. WOOD reported that temperatures inside the Wyoming apartment were believed to have reached the 90s
MLive reported that Noah weighed a mere 12 pounds and was already dead by the time his mother took him to the hospital on July 21.
“This was your own child who was six months old and you killed him,’’ he said, according to the WZZM.
“I hope you think every day of how you killed your own child.’’
Lovily pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in November, a month after an initial trial ended with a hung jury. This time, her attorney argued that his client experienced a dysfunctional childhood and was overwhelmed taking care of her infant son, 2-year-old daughter, and a younger sibling.
“I never intended to cause harm to him,” she said before sentencing. “If I could give my life for him I would.”
Lovily’s now-4-year-old daughter remains in foster care. According to MLive, the child’s father wasn’t given custody of his daughter due to a history of domestic violence, failure to provide a stable home, and because he was more than $5,000 in arrears for child support.
[Featured Image: Lovily and Noah Johnson/Facebook]
