Mom Killed Her 17-Month-Old Daughter By Giving Her Methadone to Help Her Sleep

A mother who killed her toddler daughter by giving her methadone to help her sleep has been sentenced to 30 years behind bars.

Courtney Nicole Howell, 27, admitted to giving 17-month-old Jaslynn Mansfield the lethal overdose in March last year, and said she will regret the decision for the rest of her life.

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“Trying to forgive myself is an endless battle I struggle with daily,” she said through tears in court on Wednesday, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. “I can’t make up my wrong by giving my little girl back her life.”

Prosecutors say that after her daughter stopped breathing, she called 911 – but failed to tell doctors that she had given her the drugs. If they had known, the baby might have lived, prosecutors said.

Jaslynn’s relatives argued that Howell knew how deadly the drug could be because the baby’s dad died from an overdose just months before the child’s birth.

An autopsy showed that the girl died from acute methadone toxicity. When police searched the child’s bedroom they found traces of methadone in one of her bottles.

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State records show that Howell had a prescription for methadone at the time of the child’s death.

She was sentenced on Wednesday after pleading guilty in July to second-degree manslaughter and causing a child to be exposed to a controlled substance.

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