Pierce sentenced to seven years for the child's death

By Melinda J. Overstreet
For Glasgow News 1

A little more than four years after a 19 -month -old child had died in the care of someone who had been a friend of the family and with a person with whom this friend was romantically involved, one of these people was sentenced to seven years in prison. In view of the time and dependence on its classification for the authorization to probation, however, he may not have to spend much more time in custody.

In March, a court proceedings for Devin Pierce (25) and the 22 -year -old Serenity Brown were to be started, which was charged with murder in relation to the child's death on March 27, 2021 that the Commonwealth rejected. That evening, the emergency staff responded to a call about a non -reacting child who was brought to the TJ Samson Community Hospital and later pronounced. An autopsy was carried out after detective “suspicious bruises” on the child's head.

“The results of the autopsy have found that the child died of blunt violations of the head, and the type of death was registered according to a press release from the sheriff office of the Barren County Sheriff.

Just a few days before the start of the trial, Pierce decided to make the lower charges guilty of manslaughter as part of a plea contract. His last conviction was Monday.

The child's mother read a statement from a victim in front of the judge John T. Alexander during the procedure on Monday, with Pierce with his lawyer being only a few meters ahead of her.

The declaration was also submitted in writing as part of the court file.

“You took the life of an innocent 19-month baby,” said Carson Stinson and cried and took a break when she excluded a deep breath.

She continued that Pierce was all convincing near him that he was innocent, “but innocent people did not guilty to have killed a baby.”

Stinson said he had had four years without punishment, and dreary was dead without justice.

“I am really happy today to have justice for my son,” she said. “Justice is the last thing I will ever be able to give my son. One day they will get out and live their lives while dreary will never become, and I hope that if they go to sleep or if they watch their own child, they hope that they will no longer have him.

She said she had to live with life what he was doing for the rest of her life, and it will follow her, so she wanted the same for him.

“You took the life of one of my children and gave the other for a lifetime full of trauma, and I hope that follows it,” said Stinson.

After she had returned to her headquarters in the gallery, where she was accompanied by Tristan's father and other family members and friends, Alexander said that he would save them the litany of the information he had treated when Pierce entered his new plea because they were already part of the recording and they were included in the conviction.

Combs of second degree is a crime of class C that contains a judgment of five to ten years. In return for his plea, the Commonwealth agreed to recommend a punishment of seven years, and the judge said on Monday that he would be the punishment he would impose.

A guilty judgment about the willful suspicion of murder would have led a prison sentence of 20 to 50 years or in prison in prison.

Part of the “Litani”, which followed Alexander, contained the following, which reported Glasgow News 1 before: “The seven-year sentence would be subject to this: No. 1, all agree that the discussion of their all-about-custody partly revolves around the fact that they expect the legitimate authorization of regulated manner. Probation to be considered, ”said the judge. “That means – I think the way to express it – a material factor in the decision that is made.”

Alexander said that he would remind this expectation in the records, but if this were ignored and the authorization to probe with a different percentage should be calculated, Pierce would have 60 days to receive an application in which he had asked to leave his plea (vice versa). The judge said it was his understanding that the Commonwealth does not speak against this application if he should occur, and the lawyer of Commonwealth, John Gardner, agreed that this was correct.

GARDNER announced GN1 in March that according to the new law, a conviction due to the same crime would have obliged the accused to serve 85 percent of the prison sentence before being entitled to probation. He added that there is a precedent that indicates the law actually active at the time of a crime, which is observed in this matter.

When the proceedings concluded, the judge Pierce pointed out to sit over a place near the security officers of the court, and he was immediately booked back to the Barren County salary center.
According to the presentation examination report, Gardner with Gardner said that Pierce would receive a credit for 711 days, which was already served in prison or with ankle monitoring. That is 19 days shy of two years.

If Pierce is entitled to probation after 20 percent of the seven years, which is 1.4 years old, he would already be justified, although this does not necessarily mean that the probation would be granted at this time.

Carson Stinson was involved in the mediation of the previously attempted case and also in the discussions about the declaration of consent, which was carried out with her consent, said Gardner.

85 percent of the seven years would have to be credited to serve 5.95 years, minus the 711 days before probation.

Brown's case is still pending. A pre -judicial conference will play the time at the end of July to see what happens to the classification of Pierce's probation authorization.