Jury recommends 25-year sentence for Arlington mom in toddler's death

By Mitch Mitchell

mitchmitchell@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH -- A Tarrant County jury on Thursday recommended that an Arlington woman go to prison for 25 years for leaving her 17-month-old son in a hot car for hours, causing a fatal heat stroke.

But because the defendant, Keashia Matthews, 38, was not in court when the jury returned with its decision about 11:30 a.m., state District Judge Mike Thomas could not formally sentence her.

Matthews had been taken to a hospital about 10:45 a.m. complaining of stomach pains, shortness of breath and dizziness, her attorney, Robin McCarty, said.

Matthews was released after treatment, a spokeswoman for Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital said. She was taken into custody at the hospital and was expected to be booked into the Tarrant County Jail Thursday afternoon, a jail staff member said.

She had been free on bail since her arrest.

Thomas is expected to sentence Matthews today, a member of his staff said.

Matthews, who was initially charged with murder, pled guilty on Monday to a charge of injury to a child in the death of her son, Darrell Singleton III. She left him unattended for at least seven hours in an SUV on Sept. 3, 2009, while she was at a temporary job in Bedford.

The high that day was 96. According to testimony this week, Darrell's body temperature reached 107 degrees before he died.

He was Matthews' fifth child by five men. After his death, Child Protective Services removed three daughters from her custody. Matthews allowed a fourth to be adopted.

Her mother, Suzette Edwards, who lives in Detroit, has custody of the two oldest girls; a family friend adopted the two younger daughters.

Matthews will have to serve at least half her sentence before she is eligible for parole, McCarty said.

"Relative to what the state asked for, we feel that this is a victory to a degree," McCarty said. "The state wanted 40 years, the jury decided on 25.

"I would anticipate probably the thing that was most damaging was the CPS contacts with regard to the other children and the pattern of her behavior.

"The verdict sends a message that the juries in Tarrant County feel very strongly about this. We would have preferred much less time or the opportunity for probation. It's a very tragic event and there are victims on both sides of the table.

"I don't believe that Keashia Matthews was a bad person. She made some very bad choices."

Mitch Mitchell, 817-390-7752