A woman on Thursday acknowledged causing the death of her 3-year-old daughter, who died from a brain injury consistent with opioid abuse.
Hillary Goding, 29, pleaded guilty to manslaughter under a plea agreement in which murder charges were dropped. Her attorney and prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence in which she’d serve 17 to 22 years in prison, the Bangor Daily News reported.
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Goding was arrested the same day her daughter Hailey was pronounced dead at Bangor hospital in June 2021.
She told police she believed her daughter ingested heroin from a plastic straw that she’d used to consume the drug. Heroin often is often cut with the more potent fentanyl, which was indicated in a drug screen administered at the hospital.
Hailey was one of three children in the Bangor region allegedly killed by a parent that same month, contributing ongoing scrutiny over the state’s child welfare system.
