CASSOPOLIS — An overwhelmed young mother who killed her ”helpless infant” daughter received six to 15 years in prison Friday from Cass County Circuit Judge Michael E. Dodge.
Angelique Elizabeth Osburn, 22, of 54550 Jefferson St., Eau Claire, which is in Cass County’s Silver Creek Township, pleaded guilty Sept. 16 to involuntary manslaughter for the June 18, 2010, death of her 3-month-old daughter.
Osburn has spent 347 days in jail. She was originally charged with open murder.
“It’s one of the most difficult types of cases,” Chief Assistant Prosecutor Frank Machnik said, because the girl was essentially “tortured” while being shaken violently over a six-week period, causing internal bleeding, had fluid built up around her brain from previous injuries and bruises visible on the back of her head from it banging a door frame.
Osburn threw her daughter at her boyfriend in the “heat of anger,” Machnik said of the “very tragic” outcome for a young woman not ready for motherhood who had considered giving her child up for adoption.
Dale Blunier agreed it was “one of the toughest cases you have to deal with as a defense attorney.”
While emotionally immature and intellectually challenged, “My client is not a bad person,” Blunier told the court.
She will pay for this the rest of her life no matter how much punishment the court imposes.
Osburn said she loved her daughter “with all my heart.”
“I’m just really sorry,” she sobbed.