Springdale mother sentenced in overdose death of her child

A Springdale mother did not deserve leniency in her sentencing for the death of her 5-year-old daughter, an Allegheny County judge told her Wednesday, saying her efforts to address her substance abuse while out on bond came too little, too late.

“Your child died because of [your] decisions,” Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani told Samantha McMunn as she stood alongside her public defender, awaiting the judge’s sentence.

McMunn, 34, was charged in September with involuntary manslaughter in the death of her daughter, Diem McMunn-Gereshenski. She pleaded guilty in January.

McMunn’s public defender, Sarah Coblentz McGuire, asked the judge for a mitigated sentence, noting that her client spent three months in jail before her bail was modified to allow her to be held on house arrest. She said McMunn is undergoing treatment for substance abuse, is currently clean, and undergoes regular drug testing.

“That’s closing the barn door after the horse is out,” Judge Mariani said, telling McMunn she had myriad opportunities to address her substance issues before they “caused the death of a child who had no say in it.”

He sentenced McMunn to 18 months to five years in prison followed by three years of probation.

Diem lived with her mother and maternal grandmother, the latter of whom had physical custody of Diem. The girl was found unresponsive in the home June 13. She died a short time later at Children’s Hospital.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office ultimately ruled that Diem died from an accidental methadone overdose. McMunn was charged Sept. 8.

Investigators said McMunn is in recovery from substance use disorder and, at the time, required a daily dose of methadone. The synthetic opioid is used to treat addiction and lessens withdrawal symptoms.

McMunn told police she usually kept her prescribed methadone in a locked kitchen cabinet, and she did not take it in front of her kids. But investigators said that on the day of Diem’s death, they found three baby-style syringes on the kitchen counter, two of which tested positive for methadone.