Mom of Rock Hill toddler gets prison, failed to protect child who was beaten to death
A Rock Hill mother who failed to protect her toddler from deadly child abuse will spend 18 years in prison.
Lakeisha Jackson, 27, pleaded guilty Thursday to aiding and abetting homicide by child abuse, and two counts of felony child neglect and abuse.
South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Dan Hall sentenced Jackson, 16th Circuit Deputy Solicitor Willy Thompson said. A sentencing range negotiated between prosecutors and her lawyer was 10-23 years in prison, testimony showed.
Jackson has been in jail since April 2018 when her son, Miguel Williams, was found dead in a home in Rock Hill. Jackson and the child’s father, Bruce Leroy Williams, initially lied to police and claimed the boy drowned in a motel bathtub, 16th Circuit deputy solicitor Erin Joyner said in court.
Police found that the child had been beaten, Joyner said in court. The toddler had broken ribs, organ damage, and more than 60 other injuries, Joyner said. The parents drank alcohol and took drugs for hours then made up a story about Miguel drowning at a motel in a bathtub and never called for help, Joyner said.
Jackson and the father blamed each other for the violence, Joyner said.
“This death was the end of the escalation of physical abuse during Miguel’s short life,” Joyner said.
Two of the couple’s other children, ages 5 and 3, were present during the beatings, Joyner said.
Williams was sentenced to 23 years in prison in September 2019 after pleading guilty to homicide by child abuse.
Jackson was banned from custody of her son at the time of the killing, Joyner said. The parents had ignored or broken S.C. Department of Social Services court orders about Jackson having access to Miguel and two other children, Joyner said.
Jackson and Williams told police they did not call 911 because they did not want DSS to know what happened, Joyner said.
Jackson later told police because DSS had taken her children from her, she did not have a responsibility to protect them, Joyner said in court.
This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 4:38 PM.
