BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — Charges were downgraded for a mother accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter, who appeared in court on Tuesday.
According to court documents, Lanaya Cardwell, 28, was initially charged with second-degree murder in the death of Nevaeh Allen. She declined a plea deal in October, which offered to charge her with cruelty to juveniles, which would have faced a maximum of 10 years in jail.
Cardwell attended an arraignment Tuesday, where the State returned an amended indictment to show that Cardwell’s charge was changed to second-degree cruelty to juveniles instead. She pleaded not guilty…