Latest Legal News from the Federal Criminal Courts in the United States

May 31, 2007

MOTHER SENTENCED IN SHAKEN BABY CASE

United States Attorney Johnny Sutton announced that twenty-two year-old Priscilla Settle formerly of Ft. Hood, Texas, was sentenced today to 48 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for causing serious bodily injury to her one-year-old daughter.

On April 12, 2007, Settle was convicted of Assault Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury to her child.

At trial, it was shown that on June 2, 2006, Settle violently shook her baby because she would not stop crying. Five days later, she took the baby to the hospital because she was unresponsive and vomiting. The physicians tending to the child found her story, that the child had fallen while in someone else’s care, suspicious and altered authorities. An investigation into Settle’s claim revealed inconsistencies and she later failed a polygraph test after which she confessed to
shaking her baby so violently that she caused serious bodily injury to the baby.