Matthew Scott told a Summit County judge Wednesday that no amount of prison time will make him forget how he is to blame for his 3-month-old daughter’s death.
“I should have been more cautious and careful that day,” Scott said, mumbling his words and sniffling as he stood before Summit County Common Pleas Judge Mary Margaret Rowlands. “It was an accident. This is a nightmare for me.”
Rowlands sentenced Scott, who pleaded guilty to child endangering in November, to the maximum eight years in the February 2015 death of his daughter, Alivia. Prosecutors and Alivia’s grandfather both urged the maximum sentence during the emotional sentencing.
“He is a monster,” said Timothy Mueller, Alivia’s grandfather and the father of Alicia Snow, the infant’s mother who wasn’t in court Wednesday. “I hope he gets what he has coming to him in prison.”
Mueller also blames Scott for the 2011 death of his granddaughter, Sierra, who was found dead when she was 5 months old, facedown in a bassinet with blankets in it. The death was initially determined to be accidental smothering. Another, more recent look found the cause of death to be undetermined. Sierra was in Scott’s care when she died.
“The same circumstances,” Assistant Prosecutor Angela Poth-Wypasek said. “What a coincidence...”
Alivia also was in Scott’s care when she died, but exactly what happened remains unclear. The infant died of cardiac arrest, but Poth-Wypasek said Scott has given several different accounts of what went wrong, including that she fell out of a swing onto the floor, that he threw her across the room in frustration after she wouldn’t stop crying and that he propped her up with a blanket and a bottle in her swing while he smoked a cigarette.
“At this point, we don’t know,” Poth-Wypasek said. “We may never know.”
Poth-Wypasek said Scott claimed he called 911 within four minutes of when Alivia was hurt, but her injuries showed he waited longer.
Prosecutors have said additional charges could still be filed against Scott for Alivia’s death.
Poth-Wypasek called Scott a “do-nothing” who didn’t work and sat around smoking marijuana and playing computer games. She said he had multiple convictions as both a juvenile and adult, mostly for theft and drugs. She noted that Scott violated the terms of his bond last year by having contact with children under the age of 16, landing him back in jail.
“This 3-month-old child wasn’t the love of Mr. Scott’s life,” Poth-Wypasek said. “She was a hindrance.”
Defense attorney Noah Munyer, however, argued for leniency for Scott — suggesting five years or less — noting that he is remorseful and accepted responsibility for Alivia’s death. He said every time he met with Scott since his arrest, he cried about his daughter’s death.
“For the rest of his life, he has to know he is responsible,” Munyer said.
Scott was apologetic during his brief statement, including saying he was sorry to Rowlands for violating his bond.
Rowlands was clearly bothered by this case and asked prosecutors why women continue to leave their children with men who neglect or abuse them and to have more children with them.
“I never cease to be amazed by what women will do and what the men who prey on them will do in return,” she said.
Mueller said Snow, his daughter, wasn’t in court because she’s an “emotional mess.” He said she put her life back together after Sierra’s death, but was devastated by her second loss.
“I wait daily to get the call that she’s dead,” Mueller said of his daughter, fighting tears.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @swarsmithabj and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/swarsmith.