Hayley Steele was sentenced to 75 months in prison
An Oregon woman was sentenced to over six years in prison for the death of a 10-month-old child she was tasked with babysitting, according to local reports.
Hayley Steele, 27, was hired as the in-home babysitter for Amanda Nichols’ infant, Owen, in 2022. The district attorney’s office said the baby died on Nov. 16 of that year from an abusive head trauma at the hands of Steele, local news outlet WCYB reported.
Steele was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 75 months in prison on Monday.
At the hearing, the boy’s mother cried as she addressed Steele.
“Seventy-five months isn’t nearly enough to pay for killing our son, Owen. I left work that day trusting you to take care of my son,” Nichols said, per the news outlet. “You took an innocent baby’s life because you were having a bad day.”
Steele made a deal with the state on Friday to plead guilty to the charge to avoid a trial. According to the district attorney, Steele admitted she had a bad day before the events that led to the baby’s death.