Prosecutors drop homicide charge against Utah mother

A Provo woman charged with child abuse homicide — for failing to protect her 3-month-old son from abuse allegedly inflicted by her live-in boyfriend — has pleaded guilty to lesser child endangerment counts.

Brianna Brown, 30, was never suspected of actually killing her child, Paxton Stokes, who died in 2012 from head trauma.

But prosecutors initially believed she knew, or should have known, that her boyfriend Joshua Jay Harding was a risk to the child, Deputy Utah County Attorney Julia Thomas said Wednesday.

As the case proceeded, prosecutors became convinced the woman was unaware that Harding was injuring the boy, Thomas said.

The three third-degree felony counts of child endangerment to which Brown pleaded guilty on Tuesday relate to having drugs in the home with her children — not to any physical abuse of the children.

Brown faces up to 15 years in prison when she is sentenced Nov. 18 by 4th District Judge Derek Pullan.

Meanwhile, Harding, 31, remains charged with one count of first-degree felony child abuse homicide in connection with Paxton's death. A scheduling hearing for Harding is set for Oct. 28.

Brown has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in Harding's case, Thomas said.

Harding told police that on Nov. 27, 2012, he had taken the baby upstairs to change a diaper when the infant began crying, according to charging documents. Harding allegedly claimed that after attempting to calm the child with a pacifier and a bottle, he finally left him in a bassinet to cry himself to sleep.

Harding claimed that when Brown went to check on the infant 20 minutes later, she found him unresponsive and not breathing.

However, the medical examiner found bruising on the baby's left forehead, face and neck, as well as bruising and abrasions to the baby's left leg and hip, charges state.

While Harding maintained he had done nothing to hurt the baby, the medical examiner's final report declared the cause of death as a "closed head injury," and the manner of death as homicide. Police said the baby appeared to have suffered from blunt trauma to the head.

shunt@sltrib.com