Mom accused of taking ‘me time’ while baby drowned in tub pleads guilty in Tennessee
A Tennessee mom left her 11-month-old child in a bathtub while she went outside to take some “me time,” officials said.
Now, she has pleaded guilty to reckless homicide after her young son drowned in January 2020, news outlets reported Thursday.
The mother, 34-year-old Lindsee Leonardo of Knoxville, was sentenced to four years in prison, according to the Office of the District Attorney General for the Sixth Judicial District.
News reports from this week don’t list an attorney for Leonardo.
At the time of the baby’s death, the child’s father told WATE he thought it was an accident.
“She’s just awesome as a mother,” David Brandon said in 2020, according to the TV station. “I don’t want to see her in prison, she does not deserve to be there. She’s a really loving and caring person.”
But a judge didn’t see it as an accident, rejecting a similar claim from Leonardo in 2020, when she faced a murder charge in the case, the Knoxville News Sentinel previously reported.
Leonardo is accused of leaving 11-month-old Aiden and his 23-month-old sister in a bathtub that was filled with up to 6 inches of water on Jan. 6, 2020. That’s when she left them unattended, going outside for roughly 10 minutes to smoke and take “me time,” officials said in an arrest warrant obtained by news outlets.
When Leonardo came back into the bathroom, she discovered her older child had started running the faucet and found Aiden unresponsive, WBIR reported. He was taken to a children’s hospital, where he died, according to the TV station.
Leonardo was initially charged with aggravated child abuse/neglect/endangerment, and then first-degree murder, according to media reports. But the plea she entered on Thursday was for child endangerment and reckless homicide, officials said.
A representative from the Knox County Sheriff’s Office didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ requests for comment on Friday afternoon.
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