Background: Bexar County Sheriff’s Office & Detention Center (bcsocareers.com) Inset: Samantha Elizabeth Baker (Bexar County Sheriff’s Office)
A Texas woman is set to spend the next 30 years behind bars after admitting to hitting her infant child because he was crying, leading to his death.
A mother from San Antonio, Samantha Elizabeth Baker, has been given a 30-year prison sentence by Texas District Court Judge Christine Del Prado for causing severe harm to her newborn baby, as reported by the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office. Tragically, the one-month-old baby succumbed to the injuries inflicted upon him.
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In June 2023, emergency services responded to a call concerning the unexpected death of Baker’s baby. Initially claiming she discovered the child unresponsive, Baker later confessed to physically striking him “out of frustration during his crying spells,” according to a press release.
A medical examiner found that the baby sustained a fractured skull due to blunt force trauma.
Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales emphasized that the recent sentencing underscores the community’s unwavering dedication to safeguarding children and ensuring that individuals who cause them harm are brought to justice.
When police spoke with Baker, who was 21 at the time, following the emergency call in 2023, she told them she hit the baby on his head “hard” roughly three times with an open palm, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by KSAT. She had allegedly “bec[o]me frustrated when the victim began to cry and took her frustration out on the victim.”
She initially said she wrapped her baby in a blanket, per the outlet, and placed him faceup in his bassinet — and then woke up to find him unresponsive.
It was reportedly the boy’s father who called 911, pleading for help after Baker called him at work with the news.
