ST. GEORGE — The mother charged in the 2021 death of a newborn infant appeared in a Beaver County courtroom for sentencing on a misdemeanor child abuse charge. The infant’s father was recently sentenced to prison for manslaughter after admitting to causing the newborn’s death.
The infant’s mother, 34-year-old Tawna Steed, appeared Monday for a sentencing hearing held in 5th District Court in Beaver City on one class A misdemeanor count of aggravated child abuse – criminal negligence.
Steed was originally charged with first-degree felony aggravated murder and second-degree felony aggravated child abuse on Oct. 20, 2021, but the charges were reduced after the infant’s father, Joshua Lee Downey, 29, admitted in a letter to Steed that he was the one who caused the injuries that led to the infant’s death.
Downey appeared in 5th District Court in Beaver last month and was sentenced to prison on second-degree felony manslaughter, as previously reported by St. George News.
The incident
On Sept. 19, 2021, emergency dispatch in Beaver County received a call that a 23-day-old infant was not breathing. Officers and emergency medical personnel arrived at the apartment in Beaver to find the infant unresponsive. The newborn was transported to Beaver Valley Hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
The pathologist, who performed the autopsy on the infant on Oct. 12, ruled the child’s death a homicide, according to police documents filed in support of the arrest.
According to a statement submitted to the court for Steed’s preliminary hearing, the newborn suffered 22 rib fractures (found to be in various stages of healing), as well as blunt force injuries to the face, head and torso. The pathologist described the injuries as the “worst case of child abuse involving an infant he had ever seen.”
The baby would have been in such excruciating pain it would have been difficult to breathe, the report states, and the infant had not eaten or had a bowel movement in the days leading up to his death.
In another written statement submitted to the court, on the morning of the incident, emergency personnel found the newborn “soaking wet” in an open onesie, without a diaper on and two bandanas tied around him, one around his arm and another around his chest. They also noticed what appeared to be a bite mark and bruising on his cheek.
The infant, Journey Lyric Lee Downey, was born at Beaver Valley Hospital on Aug. 27, 2021. He died at the same hospital 23 days later.
Downey told detectives during one of his initial interviews that Steed had shaken their baby on two separate occasions, and he denied ever hurting the child. Nine months later, additional evidence emerged implicating the father played a role in the baby’s death, as outlined in a 26-page motion filed by the state following his arrest, as previously reported by St. George News.
Shortly before the baby’s death, two nurses had gone to the couple’s home to check on the newborn, but after being met at the door by Steed, they were not allowed into the motel room, as noted in a statement by Beaver County Sheriff’s Sgt. Laura Davis.
Steed’s sentencing hearing
The state was represented by prosecutor Leo Kanell, while Steed was represented by Douglas Terry and Ryan Stout.
Kanell said that while both defendants, Steed and Downey, were charged with murder in the death of the newborn, things changed when the state learned it was the injuries inflicted by the father that ultimately killed the newborn, which is when the state began to reevaluate the case.
The prosecutor said the state’s position was supported by the fact that Downey later took responsibility for causing the death of the infant. Steed was reportedly sleeping at the time.
The prosecutor said the father wrote a letter to Steed that “could be interpreted as an apology for improperly accusing her of the death,” when he was the one who actually caused it.
Terry said Steed “has been steadfast in her innocence, with respect to injuring her child in any way.”
It was the father who was the infant’s primary caregiver at the time, Terry said, adding that Steed was on pain medication and recovering from the cesarian section she had during the birth of her infant.
Terry said Downey continued to profess his innocence until Nov. 13 of last year, at which point everything changed and he pleaded guilty and entered into a plea agreement.
The father admitted under oath to hurting the infant, Terry said, and these statements were later corroborated by the letters he wrote to Steed.
The defense attorney said Steed agreed to plead no contest to the misdemeanor charge for two reasons. First, the nature of the charge would reflect the fact that while Steed in no way caused the death of her child, nor was she aware of the injuries perpetrated upon the child by the infant’s father, she should have known, which satisfies the negligence standard.
Second, he said, was so his client could be released from jail and “go on with her life.”
The infant’s death is “something that (Steed) has lived with for over two years. It’s something she will live with the rest of her life,” Terry said, adding, “But today is the day to close out the case against her.”
Terry asked that his client be given credit for the two years she has already served and be released following the hearing.
Stout, the defendant’s co-defense attorney, read Steed’s statement in court, which said it was important for the court to know that she did not hurt her child, nor was she aware of what was done to the child. She wrote that she did appreciate the state and the court for acknowledging what her role was, and what it was not, in the case.
She said in the statement she loved her child, and always will.
Kanell said the state was in agreement with the stipulated settlement in the case and asked the court to follow the sentencing guidelines appropriate for the misdemeanor charge.
No victim impact statements were provided to the court, similar to what happened when the father was sentenced.
District Judge Ann Marie McIff-Allen, who presided over the hearing, said she was not bound by any agreement in terms of sentencing in the case, which she described as “a tragic loss of life associated with this entire circumstance.”
The judge went over the no-contest plea with the defendant by making sure that despite the court acknowledging it was the infant’s father who was responsible for the newborn’s death, Steed did not contest that she “should have known that the victim was in jeopardy.”
Allen said the sentence she would impose was “as robust, if not more robust than the maximum sentence,” for this particular charge. She then ordered that Steed receive credit for the 28 months she had already served, which would satisfy the jail sentence in the case.
The judge added that ongoing oversight would be appropriate in the case. To that end, Steed was placed on 12 months’ probation with Adult Probation and Parole. The judge then ordered Steed be released from jail following the hearing.
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