Mom admits causing overdose death of 2-year-old
NORRISTOWN >> A Lower Providence woman admitted that she acted recklessly and with gross negligence by not seeking medical treatment for her 2-yearold daughter who ingested the woman’s prescription medications and died of an overdose.
Christina Griffith, 36, of the first block of Indian Head Road, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court on Friday to charges of involuntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering another person and unsworn falsification to authorities in connection with the July 30, 2015, death of her daughter, Trinity, at the Motel 6 in King of Prussia.
“She did not seek medical treatment for her daughter, did not call 911 or poison control or anything of that nature. It’s that failure to act, the failure to take any further steps that was her criminal conduct.” — Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Robert Kolansky
Griffith also pleaded guilty to a charge of possession with intent to deliver controlled substances in connection with allegations she also gave some of the prescription pills to three friends.
Judge Thomas C. Branca deferred sentencing until July 5 so that court officials can complete a background investigative report about Griffith, including drug, alcohol and mental health evaluations. Griffith, who is represented by defense lawyer Henry S. Hilles III, will remain in the county jail without bail pending her sentencing hearing.
Griffith faces a possible maximum sentence of 10½ to 21 years in prison on the charges.
Assistant District Attorney Robert Kolansky indicated he will seek prison time against Griffith.
“She admitted to failing to act after she witnessed her 2-year-old daughter ingest controlled substances,” Kolansky explained.
“She did not seek medical treatment for her daughter, did not call 911 or poison control or anything of that nature. It’s that failure to act, the failure to take any further steps that was her criminal conduct.”
An investigation began about 10:55 a.m. when Upper Merion police responded to the hotel for a report of an unresponsive toddler, who was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Griffith, who on July 29 legally obtained prescriptions for two controlled substances, Klonopin, a narcotic, and Subutex, a drug used to treat addiction, gave inconsistent statements to investigators, according to court documents. Griffith initially claimed she was unaware if her daughter had ingested any of her prescription medication and claimed that she had given a portion of her medication to a relative for safe keeping.
However, when she was confronted with inconsistencies in her statement, Griffith stated that she had given some of her medication to three friends and that while staying at the motel she observed her daughter ingest a Subutex pill, according to the criminal complaint filed by county Detective Todd Richard and Upper Merion Detective Andrew Rathfon.
Griffith claimed she was counting some of her pills on the bed and that some of the pills fell to the floor. Griffith told detectives she saw her daughter place a pill in her mouth and that she attempted to remove it but was only able to remove a portion of it from her daughter’s mouth, according to the arrest affidavit.
“Griffith admitted to detectives that she never attempted to seek any medical treatment for her daughter. Rather, she watched (the girl) for forty-five minutes after she ingested the pill and then fell asleep next to her daughter on the bed,” Richard and Rathfon alleged in the arrest affidavit.
A forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy on the girl’s body determined the cause of death was combined drug intoxication and the manner of death was ruled accidental. Toxicology tests identified the presence of both Klonopin and Subutex in the girl’s blood system at the time of death.
A forensic toxicologist told authorities that the amount of Subutex in the girl’s system “was more than sufficient to cause her death,” according to court documents.
After speaking with the medical director of the Poison Control Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, investigators determined that Trinity’s life could have been saved if Griffith had sought medical treatment in a timely manner.
“By the defendant’s failure to seek medical treatment, Griffith ignored her legal duty as a parent to protect the health and safety of her child,” Richard and Rathfon alleged.
“Griffith admitted to detectives that she never attempted to seek any medical treatment for her daughter. Rather, she watched (the girl) for forty-five minutes after she ingested the pill and then fell asleep next to her daughter on the bed.”
— Arrest affidavit