A Fayetteville woman has pled guilty to poisoning her baby by breast-feeding it after ingesting methamphetamine.
Kaisha Lynne Poulson, 26, will spend 16 months in prison for several criminal charges stemming from the death of her infant baby in March 2010.
She pled guilty in Fayette Superior Court last week to cruelty to children in the second degree for her infant’s death. She was originally charged with murder in the case, as authorities alleged that her baby died due to methamphetamine poisoning because the child absorbed the drug from Poulson’s breast milk.
But prosecutors with the Fayette County District Attorney’s Office decided not to seek a murder indictment because experts who evaluated the case differed on whether there was sufficient evidence to prove her guilty beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Paramedics were summoned to Poulson’s home on Bates Avenue in Fayetteville March 7, 2010 to assist her 2-month-old infant son who was not breathing at the time, police said. The infant subsequently died and Poulson was ultimately jailed on the murder charge before she was indicted in March of this year.
Poulson also pled guilty to three other drug-related counts, including contributing to the delinquency of a minor for teaching her 14-year-old sister to crush oxycontin pills so they could be ingested, officials said. The two other charges Poulson pled to were possession of methamphetamine and possession of oxycodone.
Poulson was sentenced by Fayette County Superior Court Judge Fletcher Sams to 16 months in prison, followed by probation for the following eight years and eight months. Poulson must also complete a residential substance abuse program offered by the Georgia Department of Corrections.
