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Left: Hannah Jones. Right: Quentin Smith (Cocoa Police Department).
A Florida woman was sentenced Thursday to two decades behind bars after she stood by and watched her boyfriend allegedly kill one of their newborn twins and injure the other — while doing nothing to stop him.
Hannah Renee Jones, 21, in February pleaded no contest to neglect of a child with great bodily harm in the death and injury of their infant twins at their Cocoa home in 2023.
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“These babies came home from the hospital and spent their entire two-and-a-half months there in an abusive environment,” Assistant State Attorney Rebecca Price said at Jones’ sentencing hearing, according to a press release. “It’s only because one baby was found dead that morning that her sister lived.”
Jones’ boyfriend and the twins’ father, 25-year-old Quentin Smith, is still slated to stand trial on charges of aggravated child abuse by willful torture. Jones told investigators she saw Smith “squeeze, hit and throw objects at the babies out of frustration and pick them up by their limbs.” According to prosecutors, Smith admitted to “shaking, yanking, and biting the twins on multiple occasions.”
Circuit Judge Charles Crawford told Jones at the sentencing that she “should never be in charge of any children ever again,” according to the prosecutor’s press release.
As Law&Crime previously reported, a probable cause arrest affidavit said cops were called to a home in reference to an unresponsive infant around 11 a.m. Oct. 5, 2023. The child was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead. Photographs showed the infant had multiple circular bruises to the face, head and body. In addition, there were also bruises to the upper back and left rib area, along with swelling to the left arm, the affidavit said.
The surviving twin also had visible injuries to her face and head. There was also a large bite imprint near her buttocks, according to the affidavit.
Both parents were taken to the Cocoa Police Department for interviews. Jones said both she and Smith woke up and took a shower. After the shower, she told detectives she went to check on the babies and found one of them unresponsive and “on her stomach,” the affidavit said.
Jones first told detectives that the baby girls “constantly bang their heads against the lining of the bassinet.” But she later said that Smith used his hands to “squeeze together” the face of the children in an attempt to feed them. She also said Smith “bites” the children and on one occasion picked up the deceased infant by the arm which may have caused the swelling. Jones admitted to knowing about the injuries but never reporting them to a doctor or law enforcement, the affidavit said.
In an interview with detectives, Smith said he woke up and fed the children and placed them in the bassinet. He took a shower and went to get some rice because Jones’ cellphone fell in the water. Smith then heard Jones say she needed help because one of the twins was unresponsive. They performed CPR on the victim until paramedics arrived. When asked by investigators about the injuries to the girl, Smith admitted to biting the infant multiple times which led to the bruises.
He said Jones asked him to stop biting both victims but he continued to do so. The last time he had bitten the infants was about a week prior, he told detectives. He also said he woke up the morning of Sept. 29, 2023, when he woke up and was frustrated and yanked the victim by the shoulder and placed her on the bed, the affidavit said. He also said he shook the baby “a few months ago” to get her to be quiet.
“Mr. Smith stated that Ms. Jones, on multiple occasions the last two months, grabbed both victim 1 and victim 2 by the leg, upside down, in a careless and unsafe manner, which seemingly dangling the victims,” the affidavit said.
Smith has a court hearing scheduled for June.
