Woman sent to prison after overdosing and smothering her grandson to death

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) -A woman who admitted to snorting Fentanyl, overdosing, and smothering her infant grandson in the process learned her fate in court on Friday.

State Attorney Larry Basford said Mary Elizabeth Evans, 41, of Panama City, entered an open plea to Aggravated Manslaughter of a Child in the June 6, 2021, death of her 9-week-old grandson.

According to the State Attorney’s Office, an open plea means Evans was admitting her guilt and allowing Judge Dustin Stephenson after hearing arguments from both sides to decide her sentence.

Prosecutor Peter Overstreet argued for the maximum sentence of 30 years.

“There were a lot of wonderful things said about the defendant, and they may be true, but the sad dichotomy is that there wasn’t a lot of talk about the child,” Overstreet said to Stephenson. “I found it kind of heartbreaking … because (the victim) deserved a life and that was taken away because of her choices, and those choices have consequences.

The defense asked for a minimum of a 13-year sentence stating the defendant cooperated with authorities after the death and showed remorse.

“Your choices have stolen the future of this child,” Judge Stephenson said. “Nothing that I do today will change that, but the time you serve in prison will approximate the life this child would have had before he became an adult.”

Judge Stephenson ordered a 22-year prison sentence.