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Traniqua Floyd pleads guilty to killing baby
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A woman charged with the 2013 death of a baby pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.
Traniqua Floyd, 25, of Atkinson Avenue, entered a guilty plea Thursday to a charge of involuntary manslaughter in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for the December 2013 death of Jamar Jones, 2.
Prosecutors dropped a charge of murder in exchange for Floyd’s plea and are recommending an 11-year prison sentence, the maximum sentence for the charge, said Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer McLaughlin.
Floyd’s attorney, Lou DeFabio, is expected to argue for a lesser sentence. Sentencing will take place before Judge Maureen Sweeney after a presentence investigation in the case is completed.
Jamar was in a home in the 700 block of Pasadena Avenue when an ambulance was called just after 8 p.m. Dec. 12, 2013, and the baby was taken to Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley, Beeghly Campus.
From there, Jamar was transferred to the hospital’s main campus in Akron, where he died a few days after being transferred to the main campus.
An autopsy by the Summit County Coroner’s Office showed the baby had severe injuries to the head and brain. The autopsy was performed in Summit County because Jamar died in Akron.
Police said the baby was dropped off at the home by his mother about 3 p.m. on Dec. 12, 2013, to be watched, and the mother was gone all that day and night and most of the next day.
Floyd was indicted in January 2014 on a murder charge by a grand jury and has been in jail since then.
Floyd did undergo a competency evaluation and was declared incompetent. She was treated at Heartland Behavioral Center in Massillon, where her competency was restored, and she was ruled competent in January. She was to undergo a second evaluation for a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity before she pleaded guilty Thursday.
McLaughlin said she did not want to comment on the case until the sentencing is completed.