BOISE, Idaho — According to the U.S. Attorney's Office District of Idaho, Keisha Cody, 27, from Fort Hall, Idaho was sentenced to five years in prison, after her 7-week-old baby boy died in 2019.
According to a press release from the attorney's office, court records show Cody admitted to "recklessly causing the health of her child to be injured by willfully exposing the child to methamphetamine and causing the child to become malnourished, which resulted in the child's death."
On Dec. 10, 2019, local Fort Hall authorities were called to Cody's residence on the Fort Hall Reservation, with a report of a child who was not breathing. A witness who was staying at Cody's residence told police that she woke up at roughly 9 a.m. and Cody was crying because the baby wouldn't wake up.
Emergency care was provided, and life-saving measures were performed, but the baby boy was later declared dead, according to the news release.
The news release also said an autopsy was done on the baby, showing that the cause of death was malnutrition and that the child "had a significant level of methamphetamine in his blood, which contributed to his malnutrition and death."
In an interview with the FBI, Cody admitted that she used meth around the child, and exposed him to meth. Cody pleaded guilty to the charge on Dec. 21, 2023, just over four years after the incident.
"This case painfully demonstrates the deadly consequences of substance abuse and drug addiction," said U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit. "We stand with the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, as well as the law enforcement officers and emergency personnel who responded to this tragedy, in mourning this loss of life."
Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye sentenced Cody to five years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit commended the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Fort Hall Police Department, the Bannock County Coroner's Office, CARES at St. Luke's in Twin Falls, and the Ada County Coroner's Office.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Haycock prosecuted the case.
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