Sentencing in shaken-child death delayed again

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) —A local woman implicated in the shaking death of a 1-year-old child last year will await her sentencing at the Allen County Community Corrections residential services center.

Friday, Sharon Myers, 24, currently incarcerated at the Allen County Jail, appeared in front of Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull with her attorney, Tyree Barfield.

In February, Myers took a plea deal in the case that could send her away to prison for between 1 ½ to 8 ½ years, according to the agreement with the Allen County Prosecutor’s office.

Her sentencing, however, was delayed until she can testify in the trial of another woman charged in the child’s death.

In the plea deal, Myers admitted to Level 5 and Level 6 Felony counts of neglect of a dependent. Initially, she was facing a level 1 felony for neglect resulting in death and a Level 5 felony for assisting a criminal.

In exchange for her testimony against her co-defendant, Chrisona D. Bright, 26, in the death of Bre’asia Christine Dowdell, and because she cannot afford to satisfy a $55,000 bond, she was court ordered to the residential facility where she will be able to get a job and participate in rehabilitative services, particularly for substance abuse issues, before her Jan. 17 sentencing, according to court testimony Friday.

The state agreed to the deal.

The toddler was dropped off at Myers and Bright’s home on Aug. 10, 2023 and allowed to stay overnight because the couple asked that she stay and play with their daughter, according to court documents.

But the next day, the mother found her daughter unresponsive. All three women went to the hospital after medics tried to revive her at the home. The child was suffering from acute respiratory failure, according to court documents. She died six days later after being removed from life support.

Myers will be subject to electric monitoring and Gull indicated that community corrections would have to have some direction in the case. The facility is normally used for individuals who serve time there post-conviction. Myers will have to work to pay the daily housing fee of $23, drug screening and rehabilitative classes.

If Myers violates the agreement, she will be ordered back to the Allen County Jail.

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