A Virginia mom has learnt the consequences of her role in her 2-year-old daughter’s terrible beating death.
Amanda Brittani Mitchell, 35, had previously pled guilty to child abuse, cruelty, and drug possession charges.
On Friday, 27th Circuit Judge Joey Showalter sentenced her to 45 years in jail, with a significant proviso.
The judge postponed the sentence for 44 years and nine months. In summary, Mitchell will serve 90 days in prison for the killing of her daughter, Harper Mitchell. The little girl was battered to death by her mother’s then-boyfriend, Andrew Byrd, 39, who was watching her and most likely taking methamphetamine while Mitchell was working.
“He was clearly the main culprit,” Radford Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Rehak said at Mitchell’s sentencing hearing, according to a courtroom report from The Roanoke Times.
The prosecutor stated that the defendant expressed remorse and responsibility for her acts, or lack thereof.
And, as with Byrd’s punishment, forgiveness was a recurring theme.
Mitchell testified that she had forgiven herself for what happened to her daughter and had spent the previous five years becoming “the best person Harper would want her to be,” according to a courtroom report by Roanoke-based CBS station WDBJ.
The judge, for his part, referred to Harper as a “angel” and a kid “who did not deserve what she went through that day.”
Showalter went on to say that he hopes Mitchell uses his time in prison to ponder on how Harper’s father’s family will feel spending another holiday season without the little daughter.
In October 2023, Showalter sentenced Byrd, Mitchell’s ex-boyfriend, to two life sentences for Harper’s murder.
“No person, let alone a little girl, a little angel, should be hurt,” the judge stated at Byrd’s sentencing hearing.
Rehak stated at the time that Harper’s murder was “the most serious crime of all the crimes we’ve got in our books,” according to The Roanoke Times. He further stated: “This defendant tortured that poor little girl.”
According to the evidence presented at trial, on April 16, 2020, Byrd arrived late to pick up Harper’s mother from work. Amanda Mitchell testified that the defendant acted strangely toward the infant, who was bleeding. The mother told the jurors she wanted to take her daughter to the hospital. She claimed that Byrd refused to let her go and threatened her with a gun.
When the girl’s mother and her then-boyfriend returned home, she claimed that Byrd strangled and beat her while they fought about what to do.
The girl only received medical assistance because her mother contacted Byrd’s mother, who then called 911.
Harper had a low pulse when the defendant’s mother arrived. She also had an obvious mark on her forehead. The girl was brought to a local hospital, but she was removed from life support later that week.
According to a police investigator who testified, Byrd presented a variety of explanations for what happened, including falling off a four-wheeler, falling out of a shopping cart, and reacting negatively to something she ate due to a nut allergy, WDBJ reports. He told investigators that the young girl’s condition deteriorated as the day progressed.
“I don’t have my little girl anymore,” Harper’s father, T.J. Mitchell, said through tears during Byrd’s sentencing hearing.
“This defendant should be behind bars,” Rehak stated during Byrd’s sentencing hearing, claiming Harper was “beaten to a pulp.”
Showalter sentenced Byrd to consecutive life sentences for murder and malicious wounding. He was also sentenced to prison terms ranging from 12 months to ten years for the remaining six charges. The judge assessed those lesser sentences to run concurrently, or at the same time, as the two life sentences.
The judge also mused on the pain Harper endured.
“I don’t mind telling you this, Mr. Byrd,” Showalter said. “If Harper were here today, she would be the first to say, ‘I forgive you.'”
Mitchell testified at Byrd’s trial; she initially faced felony homicide and involuntary manslaughter. Those charges were eventually dropped.
As far as culpability is concerned, Mitchell waited over two hours before coming home to find Harper bruised and limp on the day in question. Authorities say that delay likely played a contributing factor in the child’s death. Notably, however, Byrd also assaulted Mitchell that day and stopped her from calling for help sooner, according to testimony during Byrd’s trial.
