A Department of Children and Families employee, charged in connection with the death of a baby left in a hot car, faced a judge Wednesday.
Shani Smith was a case worker making sure kids were kept safe. She accepted a plea deal in criminal court and pleaded guilty on six charges of official misconduct.
The judge gave Smith five years of probation for falsifying documents where a child suffocated to death in a hot car. Before her guilty plea, Smith insisted she was not at fault.
"What I regret is that this baby died, that's the regret that I have. But I did nothing wrong," Smith said.
As a DCF investigator, Smith supervised the case of 11-month-old Bryan Osceola and his mother Catalina Bruno. Before the child's death, Bruno was charged with a DUI when she passed out with her son in the car.
According to detectives, Smith didn't think Bruno posed a danger to her son and lied about referring her to a substance abuse program.
Six months later, the child died when his body temperature reached almost 110 degrees in his mother's car. Bruno later pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter.
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If Smith violates her probation, she faces 30 years behind bars. If she successfully completes her probation, she won't be a convicted felon but her record will still exist.
