On January 11, 2016, Kristan Renee Mayfield, 20, of Whitewright, pled guilty to one count of Manslaughter in the 59th District Court. Mayfield entered her plea without reaching agreement with the District Attorney’s office regarding her sentence. Mayfield entered an “open” plea, choosing to allow District Judge Rayburn Nall to set her punishment in the case. A sentencing hearing has been set for February 25, following the completion of a pre-sentence investigation by the Grayson County Probation Office. Manslaughter is a second degree felony, punishable by 2-20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
On September 23, 2014 at approximately 3:30 pm, the Whitewright Police Department responded to an apartment in the 1000 block of Hwy 160 in Whitewright to the report of an unresponsive infant child. Upon arrival, Whitewright Lt. Beau Heistand observed that a 3-month-old child, Lillian Rose Lee, was deceased. Heistand determined that the child had been in the care of her parents, Mayfield, then 18, and Charles Lee, 23. The parents reported that they had found the child unresponsive in the crib after the parents had fallen asleep that day. Heistand discovered that a plastic trash bag had been placed in the crib, and used to cover the mattress pad.
The body of the child was sent to the Southwester Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas, where the medical examiner determined that, while the cause of death was consistent with asphyxia, an official cause and manner of death could not be determined.
“We believe the baby died by asphyxiating because of the plastic bag left in the crib,” said Grayson County District Attorney Joe Brown. “Leaving a 3-month-old unattended with a plastic bag in a crib is incredibly reckless, and that is what manslaughter is – recklessly causing someone’s death.”
Following Mayfield’s guilty plea, Judge Rayburn Nall revoked her bond and she was taken into custody, where she will remain until she is sentence. Mayfield had previously posted bond on the charges and had remained out of jail. Criminal charges remain pending against Charles Lee, the child’s father, who has remained incarcerated in the Grayson County jail.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Matt Johnson. Sherman attorney Ron Uselton represents Mayfield.
