An Ohio woman has been sentenced to prison after authorities say she co-slept with her 9-month-old baby and suffocated the child during the night.
Kaitlyn Kuhn, 33, was sentenced this week in Belmont County court to two years in prison. She had pleaded guilty to a charge of endangering children.
She faced up to three years behind bars before agreeing to a plea deal, which was accepted by the judge and prosecutors, regional WTOV reported.
The incident happened on Nov. 29, 2025, at a home in Belmont County, in the eastern part of the state, roughly 70 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Kuhn was asleep with her baby when, authorities say, she rolled over onto the child, suffocating her.
According to Belmont County Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Vavra, someone called 911 and emergency responders went to the home. They found the child dead, as the baby “had suffocated after sleeping in bed with her through the night.”
Drugs were reportedly found in Kuhn’s system, although no drugs were found at the scene. Even so, the assistant prosecutor said it “was clear that some choices could have been made to avoid the situation.”
Before sentencing, Kuhn was given the opportunity to speak but declined, The Times Leader reported.
She was represented by a public defender, who noted that the defendant “know[s]” her child’s death was “a horrible incident.”
“And I know that a life has passed, but it’s something that a mother is going to have to live the rest of her life,” the attorney added, according to the newspaper. “This is something that’s going to show up forever.”
The case centres on the death of the infant and the circumstances in which she was found. Prosecutors said the combination of co-sleeping and the drugs found in Kuhn’s system was central to their view that the death could have been avoided.
Kuhn’s guilty plea brought the case to a close without a trial. The sentence handed down by the court was one year shorter than the maximum she could have received.