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Mother charged with killing her child for putting him to sleep in the "wrong" position.

The mother of a Northern Virginia baby has been charged with her child’s death, after she had put her baby face-down for a nap, Prince William County police said Monday.

Four-month-old Jahari Jones died in 2014. His mother, Candice Christa Semidey, fed Jahara and wrapped him in a blanket on November 8, before putting him to bed.

She put her son face down for a nap on a makeshift bed that consisted of a cushion and a blanket, before going to sleep herself. When Semidey woke, she could not wake her son. Unable to move and lying with his face towards the blanket, the baby had suffocated. Emergency services pronounced him dead at the family home.

A police spokesman, Jonathan Perok, said Semidey, 25, did not intentionally kill her son. But prosecutors concluded that her treatment of Jahari was negligent. They charged Semidey with felony murder, which refers to a death that takes place while a person is committing a felony. In this case, that felony was child neglect.

Semidey was arrested on January 19, 2015, and she pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and child neglect. She was sentenced to a suspended prison term of five years, but she won’t serve prison time if she completes three years of probation.

In a similar case, the parents of nine-month-old Avarice Alexander were charged with felony child neglect in late 2014. Also residents of Prince William county, 21-year old Adam Jerell Vince Alexander and Jasmyne Alexandria Alexander had put their daughter to bed on the night of October 5, and did not check on her for 16 hours.

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The parents put their daughter to bed on the night of October 5, and did not check on her for 16 hours. Image via iStock.
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The parents had not taken their child to a doctor for seven months, even when they noticed she was having difficulty breathing in the weeks leading up to her death. They first called for help when they found Avarice unresponsive. She was pronounced dead in the family home.

Adam and Jasmyne Alexander were charged with felony child neglect following their daughter’s death. Jasmyne Alexander was later tried for child neglect and found not guilty, and Adam Alexander is currently scheduled to go to trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter and child neglect in early 2016.