MUNCIE, IN — A Muncie mother who for a second time had a child die while sleeping with her has been sentenced to six years in prison.
Aaliyah Monet Lykins, 23, had pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, a Level 5 felony that carried up to six years in prison, and neglect of a dependent, a Level 6 felony with a maximum 30-month sentence.
The Muncie woman was sentenced on Tuesday, July 22, by Delaware Circuit Court 6 Judge Thomas Cannon Jr.
The charges stemmed from the Oct. 9, 2023, death of 2-week-old Addilynn R. Lykins.
When Muncie police and firefighters were called to a South Shipley Street home that morning they found the baby “limp with no signs of respiration,” according to court documents.
Efforts were made to resuscitate the baby and continued at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
According to an affidavit, Aaliyah Lykins told EMS personnel she had been breastfeeding the baby when she fell asleep.
“Oh, no, I did it again,” she also said at the scene, the court document reported.
That affidavit said Lykins “was fully aware of the danger of co-sleeping with her infant, Addilynn, as she had a prior born child die while co-sleeping.”
In October 2020, Lykins’ 7-week-old infant, Aiden Lykins, died under similar circumstances.
The 2023 affidavit said Aaliyah Lykins told Muncie police officers in 2020 “that she should not have placed Aiden in bed with her and that she knew it was wrong.”
The 2020 death did not result in criminal charges.
In a sentencing memo, deputy prosecutor Lexi Starost had recommended Cannon impose a six-year sentence.
“This defendant has not shown true remorse nor has she shown care for human life, the life of a child,” Starost wrote. “The defendant can walk away from this crime. Her child cannot.”
The deputy prosecutor also wrote that tests showed the 2-week-old baby had chemicals associated with marijuana and alcohol in her “cord blood” at the time of her birth.
“She never gave this child a fighting chance,” Starost wrote. “This poor, innocent life could not help who she was born to. She was born to a mother who cared more about her own illicit drug activity during her pregnancy than the health of her unborn child.”
Starost also told the judge Lykins had been “educated over and over” about the dangers of sleeping with an infant and had also previously “lived through losing a child to co-sleeping.”
In a letter to the judge, Lykins asked Cannon to consider “a lenient sentence, house arrest or probation.”
The Muncie woman said she wanted to express her “sincere remorse for my actions.”
“The weight of my mistakes has been difficult to bear, and I am truly sorry for the pain I have caused,” she wrote.
Lykins still faces 10 charges in six cases pending in local courts: battery resulting in bodily injury to a pregnant woman, criminal mischief, domestic battery, domestic battery resulting in serious bodily injury, domestic battery with a deadly weapon, harassment, and two counts each leaving the scene of an accident and neglect of a dependent.
She has also been convicted in Grant County in 2022 of resisting law enforcement, driving while intoxicated and disorderly conduct.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Muncie mother draws 6-year sentence for role in 2-week-old infant’s death
Reporting by Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
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