Traci Carpenter guilty in child abuse death of 18-month-old daughter

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

photo Traci Carpenter leaves Hamilton County Criminal Court with her attorney Lee Davis after she pleaded guilty to child abuse in the 2006 death of her 18-month-old daughter Sierra.

Traci Carpenter has pleaded guilty to child abuse in the 2006 death of her 18-month-old daughter Sierra.

She faces 2-4 years in prison. The sentencing hearing will be on May 19.

Carpenter had faced as much as a 25-year prison sentence if convicted onthe aggravated child neglect charge.

Sierra died on April 27, 2006. An autopsy revealed bleeding on the brain, among other injuries. That evidence was used a year after the toddler's death to charge Carpenter, and Brian Rutherford, who was Carpenter's boyfriend at the time.

Rutherford faced a charge of first-degree murder. A jury acquitted Rutherford of the murder charge in a November 2008 trial.

Read more in tomorrow's Times Free Press.