Cedar City mom sent to prison in death of 14-month-old daughter

A Cedar City mom convicted in the death of her 14-month old daughter is headed to prison.

According to court documents, Cherokee May Dea, 25, was sentenced to 1-15 years at the Utah State Prison for second-degree felony child abuse homicide and second-degree child abuse - inflicting serious physical injury intentionally. She was additionally sentenced to 0-5 years on two third-degree felony charges of child abuse.

She was ordered to serve the sentences concurrently and was given credit for the time she has already served since 2017. She has also been ordered to receive treatment while in prison.

Both Dea and her boyfriend, 31-year-old Brendan Dalton, were charged after police say the couple abused Dea's daughter, resulting in her death.

The investigation began in April 2017 when police said the couple brought the baby girl to the hospital after she stopped breathing. They both told authorities the girl had thrown up earlier in the evening and was crying and breathing heavily.

According to court documents, Dalton told officials that the baby began to "arch her head and shoulders back" before losing consciousness while he said he was trying to soothe her.

At the hospital, a CAT-scan detected the child had suffered a brain injury and was flown to Primary Children's Hospital. Three days later, on April 17th, she died from her injuries, documents state.

The Medical Examiner report showed the cause of death was blunt force trauma and ruled the girl’s death as a homicide.

Dalton, a convicted felon, pleaded not guilty on May 8, 2018, to first-degree felony murder, three counts second-degree felony child abuse, and one third-degree felony child endangerment and is still going through the judicial system.

His is scheduled to appear in court on a review hearing on June 3.

Story by our News Partners at ABC 4 News