BY TANYA ALBERT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Margarie Davis clutched a white tissue behind her back Tuesday as a judge told her she didn't seem to show much remorse for smothering her 22-month-old son.
Judge Ralph Winkler of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court then sentenced the 18-year-old to nine years in prison.
"These cases are the worst of the worst," Judge Winkler said during the sentencing. "I can't think of anything more reprehensible."
The North Avondale woman pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for her child's death in September. And although Judge Winkler said he rarely gives the maximum sentence when someone pleads guilty, he gave her one year less than the maximum 10 years he could have given her.
"I think about who is going to speak for this little boy," Judge Winkler said.
In a brief statement before she was sentenced, Ms. Davis told the court she was sorry for the "stress and frustration" everyone suffered. Her attorney, Kenneth Lawson, told the judge she cried before entering the courtroom.
But Judge Winkler said a child is a gift from God. "I don't see a lot of remorse," he said.
Prosecutors have said that sometime between 1 and 1:30 a.m. Sept. 29, Ms. Davis smothered her son, Ronneil Rodgers, with a pillow.
She was frustrated by his continued crying.
When the toddler stopped moving, she turned him so he was lying on his stomach. She then went to bed.
No charges were filed in the case for months. But in February, Ms. Davis told police that she had hit her son in the face and smothered him.
Prosecutors dismissed child endangering charges for the guilty plea.
Tuesday, the boy's father left the courtroom as Judge Winkler talked about "the little things that aren't going to happen" in the boy's life:
The boy's father isn't going to have the opportunity to play toss in the yard.
Nobody is going to be able to put him on a bus for kindergarten for the first time.
He won't be able to grow up and get married.
"This little boy should have been having his third birthday party," Judge Winkler said, "and that's not going to happen."
