WASHINGTON — A Prince George’s County mother who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the 2016 beating death of her infant son has been sentenced to six years in prison.
Prosecutors said Geneice Petty, 25, heard her husband repeatedly punch their 2-month-old son after the infant wouldn’t stop crying and then hid the baby in the back seat of the couple’s car. Prosecutors said she later helped her husband bury their son in a shallow grave in Riverdale.
Geneice Petty’s husband, Antoine Petty, now 33, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree child abuse resulting in death and was sentenced in October to 40 years in prison.
Geneice Petty “had an opportunity to intervene and put an end to her husband’s actions but instead chose to help him cover it up, and I hope that she spends her time in prison reflecting on her actions,” Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks said in a statement.
The state’s attorney’s office had sought a 10-year sentence.
Geneice Petty’s sentence also calls for five years of supervised probation.
Prosecutors said Antoine Petty took his 2-month-old son outside to the couple’s apartment balcony and repeatedly punched the infant September 2016 after the baby wouldn’t calm down. Geneice Petty told police she heard several thuds, and when her husband brought her son back in, he had a bloody nose and mouth and difficulty breathing.
Later, the couple left the baby in the back of the father’s Lincoln Town Car hearse for at least a day and then buried him in a shallow grave behind Parkdale High School in Riverdale, prosecutors said.
Police said Geneice Petty initially lied about the her son’s whereabouts, saying he was with one of her husband’s relatives.
