PETOSKEY, Mich. – A northern Michigan woman pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter Tuesday in the suffocation of her infant daughter, her second criminal case in the death of a child.
Lisa Rae Bryan accepted a plea deal in Emmet County. She had been charged with second-degree murder in the 2016 death of her daughter, Isabella.
Bryan admitted that she slept with Isabella close to her chest when the child died just weeks after birth.
In 2010, another infant died in Tulsa, Oklahoma, while Bryan was taking a bath with her. She served slightly more than a year in prison for second-degree manslaughter.
A message seeking comment was left for her attorney. Prosecutor Jim Linderman said there's no sentencing agreement, although the maximum punishment would be 22 ½ years in prison.
Bryan, 32, will return to court on April 24. She would be eligible for parole after serving whatever minimum sentence is ordered.
"Like all cases of this nature, it's tough," Linderman said. "It's a case where it's based on circumstantial evidence and statements made by the mother. It's a tough case to prove."
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