Babysitter gets 1 year in infant’s death
Nearly three years after a Boynton Beach baby boy’s death from massive trauma, his babysitter on Friday accepted responsibility while avoiding a potentially lengthy prison term.
Jessica Amster, 28, pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated battery and was sentenced to one year in jail as a condition of five years of probation for theAug. 20, 2015 death of 5-month-old Christian Bent.
The sentence includes credit for nearly a year spent behind bars, meaning Amster will be set free in about 25 days. The conviction will not appear on her record, as long as she remains out of trouble.
Amster was also ordered to have no contact with Bent’s parents, and her babysitting career is over.
“You will not be allowed to babysit other people’s children,” said Palm Beach County Circuit Judge JosephMarx.
Also Friday, prosecutors dropped unrelated drug charges as part of a plea deal arranged by Amster’s lawyer, Courtney Wilson, and Assistant State Attorney Jill Richstone.
Amster originally had faced a more severe count of aggravated manslaughter of a child, which could have meant 15 years in
prison.
“It’s a gigantic break for you,” Marx said.
A police report included statements from child witnesses inside the home in the 400 block of Southwest Fourth Street. They said Amster shook the boy hard and Christian’s head hit awall. They said she told the infant to stop crying.
The baby’s parents immediately took him to a hospital after finding him “unresponsive with facial drooping and unaligned eyes,” the report said.
Doctors declared Christian brain dead two days later. An autopsy noted cuts, bleeding, brain swelling, bite marks and bone fractures, leading the medical examiner to rule the death a homicide.
The boy’s father told police the child was injured in his car on Aug. 11, three days before he was rushed to the hospital.
Dwayne Bent, 40, told investigators he put Christian in a bouncer on top of a coffee table about 19 inches above a tile floor. Bent saidhewent to grab a baby bottle from the kitchen, but heard a thump. He saw the child on the floor and the bouncer on top of him, according to the report.
Bent said he didn’t think the boy was injured and the next morning he dropped off his son and 2-year-old daughter at Amster’s home.
Amster reported to the dad that Christian had a nosebleed, and she allegedly said, “I don't want you to think I did anything to him.”
The next day the boy returned to Amster’s care. But he soiled himself, appeared to faint and stopped breathing, prompting Amster to give him CPR, she told police.
Amster reportedly told a friend at the house she was afraid about being blamed for the boy’s condition.