Mom Pleads Guilty In Newborn Baby's Death

CANTON, GA -- A Cherokee County woman has entered guilty pleas in connection with the December 2015 death of her 24-day-old baby, a deal stemming from a negotiated plea that would require her, if called upon, to testify against her former boyfriend in his trial for the murder of Ciara Campbell.

Alyssa Lee Kincaid on Friday, Nov. 17 pleaded guilty to two counts of cruelty to children in the second degree and possession of methamphetamine. Cherokee County Superior Court Judge Ellen McElyea sentenced Kincaid to a total of 15 years, seven of which will be served in confinement and the rest on probation. She will, however, be credited with time served from the date she's been in custody -- Dec. 15, 2015, court records show.

The state opted not to prosecute Kincaid on the murder in the second degree charge she was indicted on last year. The remaining 17 charges, which include felony murder, malice murder, aggravated battery, cruelty to children, will be applied to Nicholas Charles Campbell, her boyfriend at the time of her child's death.

Kincaid, 26, will also have to pay a $5,000 fine and have no contact of any kind with minor children without supervision or with Nicholas Charles Campbell and shall not possess or occupy a home or vehicles where firearms are present. If she's called upon, Kincaid will also have to testify "fully and truthfully" to the circumstances related to Ciara's death, said Cherokee County District Attorney Shannon Wallace. Wallace added Campbell's trial is expected to begin in February or March 2018.

The investigation into Ciara's death started when deputies with the Cherokee Sheriff's Office responded to a call on Dec. 10, 2015, of a child not breathing at a home located on Magnolia Springs Drive near Holly Springs.

Ciara was transported to Northside Hospital Cherokee by Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services crews. She was moved to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta where she died three days later. The sheriff's office previously told Patch that "multiple injuries" to Ciara were discovered and after conducting interviews with Campbell, his mother and grandmother, he was arrested.

Campbell, who the sheriff's office said was not Ciara's biological father, was initially charged with four counts each of cruelty to children in the first degree, aggravated assault, battery and possession of methamphetamine while Kincaid's initial arrest was on charges of cruelty to children in the second degree, possession of meth and probation violation.

However, those charges were upgraded once the official autopsy findings on Ciara Campbell were released in June 2016. The medical examiner "reported the manner of death to be homicide and cause of death as "craniocerebral trauma," the sheriff's office previously told Patch.

A Cherokee County grand jury in November 2016 indicted Campbell on one count each of malice murder and felony murder, seven counts each of aggravated battery and cruelty to children in the first degree and possession of methamphetamine. Kincaid was initially indicted on one count of murder in the second degree, two counts of cruelty to children in the second degree and possession of methamphetamine.

According to the indictment, Campbell caused the death of Ciara by inflicting a "traumatic brain injury" on the baby. He's also accused of harming Ciara by causing fractures to her right clavicle, ribs, left arm and leg, right thigh and the right orbital plate of her skull.

Photo: Alyssa Kincaid. Credit: Cherokee Sheriff's Office