Prison for Black Female Who Watched as Toddler was Beaten to Death

19 Action News
January 15, 2014

Andrea Mitchell in court
Andrea Mitchell in court.

A woman who stood by as her boyfriend beat his two-year-old niece to death was sentenced to prison on Tuesday morning.

Andrea Mitchell will serve six years behind bars for watching her boyfriend, Denzel Turner, beat little Kayla Turner so severely that she died.

It happened last March at an apartment at the Bear Creek complex in Bedford Heights.

Mitchell actually caught a break in the case, charges were lowered from aggravated murder to involuntary manslaughter in a plea deal that saved her many more years in prison.

Kayla’s anguished mother, Lakeshia Turner, addressed Mitchell in court, and showed her the little girl’s morgue photo.

“You see this right here? It goes from this sexy, pretty right here. You see these pictures right here? To this. And I’m supposed to forgive you…for what? Forgive you for what? Do you see what you all did.”

Denzel Turner has since pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter, one count of felonious assault and four counts of endangering children. He faces a harsher penalty, but his sentencing has been delayed pending the outcome of psychosocial evaluation.