An Ohio mother received a minimum nine-year prison sentence on Friday for manslaughter after predominantly feeding her diabetic four-year-old daughter Mountain Dew.
Karmity passed away at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital due to diabetic ketoacidosis, reported the Cincinnati Inquirer. The child exhibited symptoms of a “serious medical issue” for days, but Banks did not seek emergency help until her daughter turned blue and ceased breathing, according to the report. Prosecutors revealed that a subsequent scan indicated Karmity was brain dead.
“This is one of the most tragic cases I have ever encountered,” Clermont County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Clay Tharp remarked. “This child did not have to die.”
Prosecutors also noted that Banks had another child, a son, who slipped into a coma at four years old due to undiagnosed diabetes. Clermont County Common Pleas Judge Victor Haddad commented that Banks should have understood the severity of diabetes from her son’s condition before her daughter’s death, as reported by the Inquirer.
“It’s hard to be a good parent, but you expect at least mediocre parents,” Haddad stated during Friday’s hearing. “Not knowing what to do is not an excuse.”
Banks, seen in court in a wheelchair, said: “I thought I was taking care of her.” Prosecutors discovered that Banks had “regularly refilled her own prescriptions and even had doctors make house calls for her medical needs,” the report indicated.
The sentence followed 41-year-old Tamara Banks’ guilty plea in March to involuntary manslaughter. According to a state law allowing the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to extend someone’s sentence based on conduct while in prison, Banks could face up to 13½ years, the Inquirer reported.
Karmity’s father, 53-year-old Christopher Hoeb, also pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and awaits sentencing in June.
