Dacia Lacey, right, admitted to smothering her 2-month-old baby Alona at their Indianapolis home, but Judge Mark Stoner, inset, found her not guilty after a three-day bench trial. (WHTR/YouTube)
An Indiana mother walked away a free woman after a judge found her not guilty despite her alleged admission that she smothered her 2-month-old baby girl to death while high on meth.
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office in Indianapolis charged Dacia Lacey with neglect of a dependent resulting in death. Lacey said she put her 2-month-old Alona face down on the couch between cushions in August 2022 because she wouldn’t stop crying, according to a probable cause affidavit. Court records show Judge Mark Stoner found Lacey not guilty after a three-day bench trial.
“You’re not innocent, but you’re not guilty of what the state has charged you with,” Stoner said, according to local NBC affiliate WHTR.
Stoner said Lacey showed bad judgment.
“This is a case that happens when you’re a bad parent. There are some things you can never do. You can never have sole possession of your children and go out and use drugs,” Stoner reportedly said.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Lacey initially told cops that Alona died after being smothered by her kids while they were playing with her on the couch. She claimed she was making food for her other children in another room and preparing for a trip to the laundromat. When she returned, she noticed Alona was under a blanket and pillow and saw she was not breathing when she uncovered her. When Lacey asked her 3-year-old daughter what happened, the girl started crying. Lacey told detectives she wasn’t sure what happened but believed it was an accident.
A couple of days after the incident, the girlfriend of Alona’s father emailed detectives to say the 3-year-old made a “spontaneous” statement about the incident. The girl said her mother “put a pillow over Alona’s face because Alona was crying,” according to the affidavit. But an interview with the 3-year-old with investigators did not reveal any information, the affidavit said.
An autopsy could not determine whether the baby had been smothered and ruled the cause of death undetermined.
About three weeks after Alona’s death, a drug screening showed Lacey had meth in her system that day. In January 2023, Lacey again spoke with detectives. She allegedly admitted to taking a “rolling pill” which she thought was Molly but actually contained meth, days before Alona’s death. Lacey then said she was still high and became frustrated that Alona wouldn’t stop crying, the affidavit said.
According to the affidavit, Lacey said she started to get rough with her baby.
“Dacia said Dacia rubbed lotion on Alona’s back forcefully because of Alona crying. Dacia said she told Alona to just shut up. Dacia said she picked Alona up forcefully and was saying Alona be quiet be quiet,” investigators wrote.
She then put the baby face down on the couch between the cushions before falling asleep, the affidavit said. Lacey allegedly told detectives she smothered her baby but “never put pressure” on the girl. She said she didn’t mean for it to happen. Everything was an accident because she was “so high,” Lacey said.
“Dacia said she just wanted to go to sleep,” she said.
Cops then arrested her on the neglect charge.
But Stoner reportedly said at the bench trial that prosecutors did not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. For instance, there was no evidence of abuse over a period of time or broken bones.
“Not everything that’s a mistake or everything that is wrong is criminal,” Stoner reportedly said. “Something has to be done with criminal intent, criminal responsibility, and that’s what the defendant is charged with. When the state chooses to charge an individual, they must prove they did something with criminal intent. Poor parenting, by definition, is not criminal.”
Stoner made headlines earlier this month when he sentenced Elliahs Dorsey to time served for the 2020 shooting death of Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Officer Breann Leath. Stoner tacked on an additional 25 years for the attempted murder of Dorsey’s girlfriend, according to court records. Prosecutors were asking for a sentence of more than 60 years.
A jury in February found him guilty but mentally ill at the time of the incident of reckless homicide in Leath’s death and criminal recklessness for shooting at three other cops, records show. After his release from prison, Dorsey must serve 15 years of mental health probation, where he must seek treatment.
More on Law&Crime: ‘I would do it again’: Dad who smothered kids, tucked them back into bed, fled the state found guilty of their murders
Dorsey’s lenient sentence outraged the Indianapolis police chief and union.
IMPD Chief Christopher Bailey said he was “deeply disappointed” by the sentence.
“This man killed a young mother and police officer, robbing Officer Leath of her life and all the potential she had,” Bailey wrote. “He also attempted to kill other officers and Ms. Brown. Nothing less than the full sentence under the law for his violent and senseless actions is acceptable.”
Below you will find a statement from Chief Bailey on today’s sentencing. pic.twitter.com/AI4q6Qi2v2
— IMPD (@IMPDnews) April 5, 2024
The union demanded Stoner to resign and asked for more oversight of judges.
“This is why officers in the city of Indianapolis are fleeing this community,” Rick Snyder, the president of the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police, said, according to local NBC affiliate WTHR. “They can’t stand by and watch what is being done to it, torn apart by our very criminal justice system that is supposed to be protecting it. So they are choosing to go to other communities to be able to do that because there’s no hope here.”
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