Woman gets death penalty for fatal child abuse
Left 10-year-old cousin to die in sweltering box
In the end, it was the pictures that convinced jurors that Sammantha Allen needed to die.
The photos, shown on the second day of Allen’s trial, displayed the dirt-caked body of 10-year-old Ame Deal next to the i ncomprehensibly small box where she spent her final moments, suffocating. The box had once stored Barbie dolls before the collection got too big. Allen and other family members were accused of making the child fold herself into the box as punishment for stealing an ice pop.
“The pictures of the victim stayed in our minds,” juror Ann Ospeth told the Arizona Republic. “I think the thing for us was the victim and all the things her life entailed.”
Allen, 29, was convicted of first- degree murder and four counts of child abuse for making her young cousin exercise in the sweltering Arizona heat and then padlocking her in the box, which measured just 31 by 14 by 12 inches.
Allen fell asleep and forgot about the girl, who was found dead nearly seven hours later, in the summer of 2011, according to The Associated Press.
It was the end of Ame’s brief, abuse- filled life in a crowded home in south Phoenix, prosecutors argued. She was the victim of physical abuse, including being kicked in the face and beaten with a wooden paddle.
The adults in the house made Ame drink hot sauce, eat dog feces and crush aluminum cans with her bare feet.
The night she died in July 2011 wasn’t the first time her relatives had forced her into the plastic storage box to punish her. At the time, the temperature exceeded 100 F.
Allen was found guilty June 26, according to the Republic.
For more than a week, a jury deliberated to determine whether there were mitigating factors that meant she shouldn’t be given the death penalty — including her own dysfunctional upbringing and her age.
“Lack of remorse was the biggest thing that played into it for us, that we didn’t see that from Sammantha throughout the whole process,” juror Anne Schaad told CBS affiliate KTVK.
On Monday, the jury decided on the death penalty.
Cynthia Stoltzmann — Allen’s mother and Ame’s legal guardian — is serving a 24-year prison sentence for a child abuse conviction.
The trial of John Allen, Allen’s 29-year-old husband, is scheduled to start Oct. 9. He has pleaded not guilty to the same charges as his wife and also faces the death penalty.