Cocoa woman gets prison time for enabling deadly abuse against her infant twins
A Cocoa woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for enabling child abuse that killed one of her 3-month-old twin daughters and sent the other twin to the hospital.
Hannah Jones, 21, was arrested in October 2023. The twins' father, Quentin Smith, was also arrested.
According to the state attorney's office of the 16th Judicial Circuit, Jones said she say Smith squeeze, hit and throw objects at the babies out of frustration, and that he picked them up by their limbs. Smith admitted to shaking, yanking and biting the twins on multiple occasions.
Prosecutors say the couple never took the children to doctors for any reason.
Jones pleaded no contest in February and was convicted of two counts of neglect of a child with great bodily harm.
The state attorney's office said it made no plea offer in this case, and assistant state attorney Rebecca Price had asked for the maximum prison sentence of 30 years on the two charges.
'These babies came home from the hospital and spent their entire 2-1/2 months there in an abusive environment,' Price said at Jones' sentencing hearing on Thursday. 'It's only because one baby was found dead that morning that her sister lived.'
Smith is still awaiting trial in the Brevard County jail. He faces two counts of aggravated child abuse by willful torture.
The state attorney's office says the surviving twin has recovered and now lives safely with a relative.
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