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Mother who rolled over onto baby found guilty

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By Nancy Bowman, Contributing Writer Updated 5:30 PM Wednesday, October 7, 2009

TROY — A Miami County jury found a Piqua woman guilty Wednesday, Oct 7, of child endangering in the 2008 rollover death of her 5-month-old daughter.

Tiffani Cantrell, 23, was accused of rolling onto the child, who was sleeping in bed with her after Cantrell spent the night partying, Jim Bennett, first assistant Miami County prosecutor, said.

Jurors deliberated less than two hours before returning the verdicts in the second day of Cantrell’s trial in county Common Pleas Court. The child endangering charge is a misdemeanor with the jury’s subsequent finding that Cantrell’s actions resulted in serious physical harm being a felony.

She could receive up to five years in prison at sentencing Nov. 16.

Bennett said witnesses testified that the night before Keandra Cantrell died, her mother was across the street at a friend’s house, drinking beer and taking Vicodin pills.

Those gathered drank and played cards until 5:30 a.m. when Cantrell went home, and put the infant in bed with her, Bennett said.

Police were called to the house around 8:45 a.m. Sept. 29, 2008, on a report of the child not breathing.

Bennett said the case is different from other rollover cases in which a death was considered an accident because of evidence Cantrell was advised by Children’s Services in 2006 about the dangers of sleeping with another child, he said.

“It was her choice to sleep with the baby. She had been partying all night. This was just a prescription for disaster — after she’d previously been warned,” Bennett said. “We just wanted her to be responsible.”

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