A woman charged in the murder of her 2-year-old daughter will put her fate in the hands of a jury and chance a mandatory life sentence, according to proceedings that played out Thursday in a Baton Rouge court.
Lanaya Brittany Cardwell, 28, rejected a plea offer from state prosecutors that would have reduced her second-degree murder charge to cruelty to a juvenile in the September 2021 death of Nevaeh Liyla Allen.
Her decision came as prosecutors publicly disclosed for the first time that they no longer believe Cardwell inflicted the brutal beating that caused the 2-year-old girl’s death. They now attribute it to her live-in boyfriend, Phillip Kegan Gardner…