Jury convicts caretaker of burned baby

A jury this week convicted a woman for failing to get medical help for a baby boy burned so badly his right leg had to be amputated.

Jurors deliberated about 40 minutes on Thursday before finding Cordett Lashawn Cole guilty of child neglect. They recommended a prison sentence of 15 years as punishment.

Cole, 44, of Oklahoma City, will be formally sentenced in December.

Cole' s daughter was accused of burning t he boy on Dec. 10, 2017. He was 11 months old at the time.

He was burned from his “navel down to his feet,” police said. He wasn't taken to a hospital until Christmas Day.

Paramedics were called to a residence in the 2700 block of NE 18 to treat a boy for cardiac arrest.

When they arrived, the child was wrapped in bandages from the waist down, a paramedic testified at trial.

In her opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Lori McConnell told jurors the child was submerged or dipped in “some sort of hot liquid.”

”They don't take the baby to the hospital on Dec. 10,” the prosecutor said. “(He) doesn't go to the hospital on Dec. 11 for his burns. He doesn't go on Dec. 12 and on and on.

“They keep him in their home, Cordett Cole along with her daughter Breanna, and watch as the condition of ( the boy's) burns get worse and worse. They watch day after day, as he is in excruciating pain. They do nothing as they watch his right leg turn black.”

Cole' s attorney told jurors she was at work when the child was burned. He said Cole and her daughter sought medical assistance, but were told they needed the mother's consent to treat the boy.

Prosecutors charged two other caretakers in the case, including the child's mother.

In May, a jury acquitted Breanna Lanae Cole — the defendant's daughter and the victim's godmother — of child abuse but found her guilty of child neglect. She received a 12- year prison sentence.

Prosecutors alleged

Breanna Cole caused the injuries, including the amputation of his leg.

Cole, though, told police that the boy had aseizure and pulled a hot tea kettle off a table, burning his lower body. A doctor testified at a preliminary hearing the boy's injuries were not consistent with being splashed by hot water.

Ca brion Mo nay Washington is charged with child neglect and awaiting trial.