Dakota County Attorney Kathy Keena announced today that Queenetta McDaniel, age 36 of Maplewood, was sentenced today to four years probation — a downward dispositional departure from the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines — by Judge David Knutson in connection with the death of her 3-year-old son, Amier Isaac McDaniel. The state requested that Ms. McDaniel be sentenced to a term of 41 months in prison.
Ms. McDaniel pled guilty to one count of manslaughter in the second-degree (commit or attempt to commit neglect or endangerment of a child) on July 24, 2023.
According to the criminal complaint, police and emergency medical providers were called to an apartment in West St. Paul around 7:45 a.m. on Dec. 7, 2020. Ms. McDaniel said she awoke and noticed her 3-year-old son was not breathing and appeared to have vomited. She told police the boy was conscious and apparently well at approximately 11 p.m. the previous night before going to sleep. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital and died there soon after.
Police suspected McDaniel was under the influence of drugs because of her behavior at the apartment and the hospital, according to the complaint. Several hours later, investigators collected a sample of Ms. McDaniel's blood, and fentanyl and a metabolite of fentanyl were found during a toxicology analysis.
The Ramsey County Medical Examiner completed a death investigation and determined that the cause of Amier's death was acute fentanyl toxicity.
“I'm disappointed in the court's decision given the facts of this case," said County Attorney Kathy Keena. “Such a tragic and senseless death due to the negligence of Ms. McDaniel. My sincere condolences to Amier's family and loved ones."
Keena thanked Assistant Criminal Division Head Stacy St. George, who prosecuted this case and West St. Paul Police Department for their investigation.