JASPER, Ind. (AP) -- The mother of a 2-year-old southern Indiana boy who was allowed to remain in her care after he tested positive for methamphetamine has pleaded guilty in his beating death.
23-year-old Vadney Michelle Blake of Cannelburg is to be sentenced Nov. 2 and faces a prison term of 20 years to 50 years. She pleaded guilty last week in Dubois (doo-BOYSS') Circuit Court to a charge of battery resulting in death. A felony neglect charge was dropped as part of an agreement with prosecutors.
Blake admitted to striking her son, Jalen, with a candle the day before his June 2008 death from head trauma.
Jalen tested positive for methamphetamine just weeks before his death, but a state Department of Child Services case worker did not remove him from his home.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press.? All Rights Reserved.)
