‘If You Continue to Carry the Weight of It, It Will Consume You,' Judge Tells Mother Guilty in Her Child's Death

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DC Superior Court Judge Rainey Brandt sentenced Sasha McCoy on Jan. 24 to ten years of incarceration, suspending all but four years, and three years of probation in a residential drug treatment facility for the accidental death of her three-year-old daughter from fentanyl.

McCoy, 28, was originally charged with first-degree murder and first-degree cruelty to children following the death of Journey McCoy on Oct. 18, 2022. The incident took place at their home on the 3400 block of Stanton Road, SE.

On Oct. 15, 2024, McCoy pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for the prosecution’s not seeking an indictment and dismissing all other charges in the case.

“I am truly sorry for all my actions, and I miss my daughter every day,” McCoy told the court. “I am dedicated to do good all in honor of my beautiful daughter.”

At the sentencing, the prosecution asked Judge Brandt to give McCoy ten years in prison with five years of supervised release.

“While I understand this was an accident, there have to be layers to what ‘accident’ means,” the prosecutor said.

She said the DC Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) had been involved in McCoy’s family for years before the incident. While investigating a report that one of McCoy’s young children had consumed drugs, CFSA found McCoy’s five-year-old twins watching their one-year-old sibling while McCoy was away taking drugs.

According to the prosecutor, McCoy’s difficult childhood with a drug-addicted mother should have motivated McCoy to avoid drugs.

“She made a conscious decision to use drugs instead of saying, ‘There’s addiction in my family. I shouldn’t do that. I don’t want to do to others what was done to me,'” the prosecutor said.

The prosecutor said CFSA gave McCoy several opportunities to get drug treatment, but she didn’t take them.

“The worst part about it is that a three-year-old died because Ms. McCoy chose drugs over her kids,” said the prosecutor.

McCoy’s attorney, Camille Wagner, asked Judge Brandt to sentence McCoy to eight years in prison with all but four years suspended, a period of probation, and enrollment in the most intensive drug treatment program offered by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).

Wagner objected to the prosecutor’s assertion that McCoy made a conscious decision to choose drugs over the wellbeing of her children.

“McCoy is an addict. She’s fully addicted to the drugs,” Wagner said. “McCoy’s actions in this case, yes, they were reckless. But they were the results of the addiction that she was a victim of.”

Wagner said McCoy had seen a psychiatrist and participated in drug treatment programs before her arrest, although they were not the programs offered by CFSA. McCoy also took classes in jail.

“She has now changed. She is dedicated to working on herself and her sobriety,” Wagner said.

Wagner compared this case to another involving the death of a child, in which Judge Brandt gave a sentence of seven years with all but three years suspended. Wagner said intentional shootings often carry sentences of seven years, so ten years is inappropriate for McCoy, who had no intention to kill or harm the victim.

“She is living with the reality of her actions, and that’s a greater punishment than any the court can impose,” Judge Brandt said about McCoy.

According to Judge Brandt, McCoy’s low criminal history score indicates she should receive a sentence at the bottom of the guideline of four-to-ten years in prison.

“What the court is grappling with is why CFSA didn’t, after the first or second incident, just take those kids away from her. CFSA let those kids down. I don’t put that on Ms. McCoy because she is a self-confessed drug addict,” Judge Brandt said.

Judge Brandt told McCoy she will need to learn to forgive herself in order to have the strength to overcome her addiction and provide what her children need.

“It was a tragic mistake, but it was still a mistake. You were not in your right mind because of the drugs,” Judge Brandt said to McCoy. “If you continue to carry the weight of it, it will consume you.”

Judge Brandt said she would ask BOP to place McCoy in a facility that offers the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP). She ordered McCoy to participate in grief counseling, complete the General Education Diploma (GED), and pay $100 to the Victims of Violent Crime Fund.

Judge Brandt ordered McCoy to have no contact with children under the age of 14 without supervision.

“I’m not saying you can’t see your kids, but you can’t see your kids without a competent adult supervising,” Judge Brandt said. “Right now, you are a safety hazard to your kids.”

No further hearings are scheduled in this case.

‘If You Continue to Carry the Weight of It, It Will Consume You,’ Judge Tells Mother Guilty in Her Child’s Death