Parent Sentenced to Life for Child’s Death

By Kaliah Green [former] - December 8, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Suspects |

On Dec. 6, Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jeannie J. Hong sentenced a woman to life in prison after she pleaded guilty in the death of her four-year-old son in 2019.

Shateka Lawson, 44, was charged with first-degree child abuse resulting in death, first-degree child abuse resulting in severe physical injury, second-degree assault by a custodian, neglect of a minor, child abuse, second-degree murder and making a false statement to an officer. 

The prosecution said Lawson changed her story multiple times placing the blame on her co-defendant, Alicia Lawson, 29. 

The prosecution said that Shateka was just as responsible and as equal a parent as Alicia, the biological mother, for the death.

Defense attorney Roya Hanna, asked the court for a lesser sentence of life, suspending all but 18 years, claiming that Shateka wasn’t intellectually capable of understanding what was happening. However, the court denied the motion.

The judge told Shateka that she should have taken the child to get medical help. 

According to Baltimore Witness, Malachi Lawson died nine days after his parents, Alicia and Shateka Lawson, gave him a searing bath, causing severe burns on July 23, 2019, on the 5500 block of Haddon Avenue. 

The child’s body was later found in a dumpster miles away from their home. 

Hong sentenced Shateka to life, suspending all but 30 years, with five years of supervised probation.

In August 2021, Alicia accepted an identical guilty plea of life, suspending all but 30 years, with five years of supervised probation for first-degree child abuse resulting in death.