Two years ago, Kansas City resident Mariah Thomas killed her baby by putting one-month-old Za’Riah Mae in the oven.
On Tuesday, however, Missouri prosecutors dropped the murder charge because Thomas pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child leading to death.
This charge carries 13 years in prison, minus the time already spent in custody.
The official story, however, clearly points to murder — not child endangerment.
When first responders arrived at the scene, Thomas told them that she was trying to put her baby down for a nap and “accidentally placed her in the oven instead of the crib.”
It is an excuse that defies logic.
Last time I checked, most cribs don’t have a door on the side, metal racks on the bottom, or little knobs on the top. Furthermore, if my crib happened to have knobs, I’d have no reason to turn them on.
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Thomas, on the other hand, opened the oven door, laid her child on the wire rack, and closed the door, either ignoring the heat that was already present in the oven or intentionally turning it on.
This was not an accident.
Za’riah’s grandfather was the first person to reach out to the authorities. His daughter, Mariah, reportedly called him, saying that “something was wrong with the baby and he needed to return home immediately.”
She had already removed the baby from the oven, but, for some reason or another, had not yet called for an ambulance.
When the police arrived, they found Za’Riah in a car seat. She was pronounced dead on the scene. Her body was covered in burns, and her ‘blackened’ clothing had melted onto her diaper and skin. A charred baby blanket was also found and taken into evidence.
To be fair, there is certain conjecture about Thomas’ mental state. An anonymous friend of Thomas told the Daily Mail that mental health may have played a role in the tragedy.
Further, a few weeks before the incident, Thomas voiced her loneliness and despair on Facebook, saying, “Yea motherf***ers claim they my friend but don’t never check up on me or Za’Riah. From now on, we f*** with whoever f***s with us or love us (edited for clarity).”
Perhaps Thomas was close to her breaking point, and just snapped. Perhaps, as her anonymous friend alleged, “she thought like a child.”
Neither insanity nor competency, however, was raised as justification for adjusting the charge. In fact, the judge made it clear that mental health played no part in the plea deal.
Should a guilty verdict in cases of extreme, deadly violence like this automatically require the death penalty?
Yes: 100% (5 Votes)
No: 0% (0 Votes)
Rather, we have yet another example of the American criminal justice system defending the criminal — not the victim. It’s Lindsay Clancy and DeCarlos Brown all over again. At least in those cases, people pretend that the offenders were insane or psychotic.
Here, they raise no justification for the switch. They simply refuse to prosecute the crime of which Thomas is guilty — namely, murder.
This woman should spend the rest of her life in jail. The death penalty should be considered. And the idea of her returning to society within 11 years — maybe earlier, depending on “good behavior” — should not even be considered as a valid option.
Until prosecutors are held accountable for trading justice for swift plea bargains, our justice system will continue to fail the most vulnerable among us.
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