Pretrial held in toddler drug death case
BROOKSVILLE –
A young woman sat in the last row of a Hernando County courtroom on Thursday, a red flower in her hair matching the color of her crisp, red blouse. A cursive script tattoo reading “Tiffany” peeked out from her black wedge heels.
When the bailiff called case number 272011 — felony manslaughter — to step forward, the woman walked down the aisle, through the swinging doors and stood before Chief Circuit Judge Daniel Merritt Jr.
Tiffany Ann Mitchell, now 27, of Spring Hill is accused in the 2011 death of her 2-year-old daughter.
Kaylynn “Bella” Mitchell is believed to have swallowed an oxycodone tablet Mitchell left on her bedside table on the evening of Jan. 30, 2011. Bella lost consciousness early the next morning, and when paramedics arrived, the toddler was already dead.
Mitchell was questioned in March 2011 after an autopsy and toxicology report revealed oxycodone in her daughter’s system. Mitchell originally denied knowing how the child got her hands on the drug, but the following day she changed her story, telling sheriff deputies she took the oxycodone out of her purse and placed the pill on her bedside table.
She then took a shower, and when she returned to her bedroom, the tablet was gone. She looked for the pill but couldn’t find it, and never believed her child would have swallowed it, according to a Hernando County Sheriff Office report.
When her little girl lost consciousness the next morning, Mitchell said she knew it must have been from the opiate, but hoped she was wrong.
The 2002 Springstead High school graduate was collecting unemployment at the time of her arrest on aggravated manslaughter last July, and had two other children, ages 5 and 7.
Mitchell’s bond, originally set at $15,000, was lowered to $10,000 and paid by her family. In August 2011, her attorney Jimmy Brown filed a motion for “due process costs,” claiming Mitchell was too destitute to pay her court bills. Court records showed Mitchell did not have any assets, not even a bank account.
Hernando County records showed Mitchell did not have any prior criminal history.
A trial date was not set Thursday, and according to Assistant State Attorney Sonny McCathran, the trial will happen some time in 2013.
McCathran said a first-degree felony manslaughter charge can bring a 30-year maximum sentence.
