VERNON, TEXAS -- An Amarillo woman has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for the death of her 5-year-old daughter. In July, 2009, Kristina Earnest, 23, and her boyfriend took Kati Earnest to a Vernon hospital claiming she had accidentally drowned in the bath tub. The medical examiner later determined she died from blunt force trauma to the abdomen.
Earnest was sentenced Thursday in Vernon after pleading guilty to injury to a child by omission. She had been charged with capital murder, but the Wilbarger County District Attorney says her actions didn't directly cause the child's death. She is expected to testify against her boyfriend, Tommy Castro, at his upcoming trial. If convicted of capitol murder he would get life in prison without parole.
