HAMILTON — During her March trial, Tiana Centers testified she wanted to lash out at the man accused of killing her 3-year-old daughter, Butler County Common Pleas Judge H.J. Bressler recalled Friday. But behind the scenes, Ms. Centers was writing jailhouse love letters to Kevin Charles Miles, 27, of Woodlawn. He is accused of punching Courtney Centers hard enough to split her liver; the Middletown girl bled to death Jan. 1.

        Judge Bressler told Ms. Centers Friday that she was playing such conflicting roles that, “What I have in front of me is two different people.” He sentenced her to four years in prison for permitting child abuse. The term is one year shy of the maximum. Her supporters had pleaded for probation and counseling.

        Mr. Miles, whose murder trial is set for Monday, has filed a document alleging that Ms. Centers, 20, is the “actual offender” and that he saw her kill Courtney. Mr. Miles, however, made a videotaped admission that he struck the child, said Assistant Prosecutor Craig Hedric.

        “Two people are responsible for what happened to Courtney — Kevin Miles and Ms. Centers,” Mr. Hedric said. “She allowed that child to be abused and killed, then she goes writing these letters to him. That's just reprehensible.”

        In the letters, Ms. Centers repeatedly tells Mr. Miles she loves him, wants to get married and live with him, their unborn child and her other daughter, Emily, 2.

        On March 30, days after a jury convicted Ms. Centers, she composed a “love warrant” for Mr. Miles: “You are hereby sentenced to life with me without the possibility of parole! You consequently will be loved forever in a maximum-security facility called "My Heart.'”

        In court Friday, Ms. Centers briefly, tearfully told the judge her children meant everything to her, she would never let anyone abuse them and she would rather have died than Courtney.

        But, in light of the letters, Judge Bressler said, “I have a difficult time accepting this remorse. ... I have a hard time determining whether the tears I'm seeing are for you — or for what happened to your child.”

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