BONIFAY – Christopher Martin McLean has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for Aggravated Manslaughter of a Child and related charges after pleading no contest Wednesday, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.
McLean, 35, of Westville, pled no contest to the manslaughter charge, Aggravated Child Abuse, Possession of Methamphetamine, and Resisting an Officer without Violence. Circuit Court Judge Russell Roberts adjudicated the defendant guilty of all charges and entered the 22-year sentence. McLean is the father of the victim.
Kathreen June Adams, 24, the co-defendant and mother of the 23-month-old victim, previously pled guilty to Aggravated Manslaughter of a Child, Possession of Methamphetamine, and Aggravated Child Abuse. She is awaiting sentencing.
Prosecutor Peter Overstreet was prepared to call witnesses and present evidence proving the defendants were high on methamphetamine when they returned home after midnight May 16, 2023, and left the toddler in Adams’ car until mid-afternoon. The child died from hyperthermia.
“This is a sad case where there are no winners, only losers,” Overstreet said. “Drug addiction led to an innocent child dying needlessly.”
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The evidence would have shown the defendants stopped and bought methamphetamine, and used it, before picking up the two children from the babysitter after Adams got off work. They got home sometime after midnight May 16, 2023.
The Holmes County Sheriff’s Office was called to the home around 3 p.m. Deputies found the child unresponsive with a body temperature around 107 degrees. Both parents initially claimed they found the child that way in her bed.
During questioning, Adams relented and said when she and McLean returned home after midnight, the 4-year-old was brought inside but neither parent brought in the 23-month-old.
Adams, who said she had been using meth for days without sleep, fell asleep on the couch. McLean also fell asleep.
Adams awakened sometime before 3 p.m. and realized her daughter was not in the house. She found her unresponsive in the car.
Testimony would have shown McLean coached Adams to lie and say they found the child in her bed.
Basford thanked the HCSO for its work on the case and helping gather evidence that would lead to the manslaughter charges.
For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.