On March 24, Steven Heggie, 62, was sentenced to six years imprisonment in Baltimore City Circuit Court after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter related to the 2023 death of a child.
Judge John A. Howard presided over the sentencing briefly delayed over a locked courtroom door.
At the hearing, Heggie gave a heartfelt statement of regret. “The responsibility was laid upon me and I failed,” he stated. “The hurt, pain and suffering that I caused—I apologize with my life… my life is filled with void now.”
Heggie had pleaded guilty last June to involuntary manslaughter due to gross negligence for the death of his infant grandson, 13-month-old Messiah Heggie, who passed away from a fentanyl overdose on Oct. 27, 2023. Prosecutors claimed Heggie had consumed cocaine shortly before attending to the child and had capsules or the powerful narcotic nearby while sleeping with the baby.
During the sentencing, Judge Howard rejected Heggie’s request for home detention, sentencing him instead to 10 years, suspending all but six. Judge Howard also imposed a 3-year probationary period upon completion of Heggie’s prison term.
Heggie’s punishment falls within the legal maximum of 10 years for manslaughter caused by gross negligence.
