Virginia Father Only Got 4 Years in Prison for Fatally Abusing 9-Month-Old Daughter

A father will only spend close to four years behind bars for abusing and neglecting his 9-month-old daughter so badly she died.

29-year-old Kasiam Tinsley was sentenced to 15 years in prison on October 12, 2015 for felony child abuse and felony child neglect. But, Circuit Judge Joseph Migliozzi Jr. suspended most of that time. He also ordered Tinsley not to contact any children younger than 13 once he gets out of prison.

“This child essentially died on your watch, and you’re responsible for that,” the judge told Tinsley.

In July 2015, Migliozzi convicted him of the two felonies after a two-day trial, in which Tinsley decided to have a judge rather than a jury decide his fate. Prosecutors also had been trying to convict him of second-degree murder and malicious wounding in connection with the death of his daughter, Makayla Smith.

But the judge acquitted him of those charges. Instead, he sentenced Tinsley to three years and nine months in prison. That was the top end of the statewide Criminal Sentencing Commission guidelines, which ranged from a year and eight months to three years and nine months.

Prosecutor Meghan Powell pushed Migliozzi to reject the guidelines and give Tinsley the harshest punishment allowed by law: 15 years in prison. She called the guidelines “a joke” and “not even close” to justice.

Similar: Father of Slain 4-Year-Old Girl Recalls Warning Signs, Says Mother Admitted Abuse to Police

Powell repeatedly hammered Tinsley for his 2013 conviction in Georgia on several charges, including child cruelty. In that case, Tinsley broke the collarbone of 2-year-old girl, and another child said Tinsley hit him in the face. He spent some five years in prison in that case.

“This defendant is a child abuser,” Powell told the judge.

Defense lawyer Eric Korslund argued that the guidelines exist for a reason: to steer judges into giving consistent sentences for similar crimes across the state. He accused Powell of trying to get a “backdoor sentence” for murder, even though she didn’t prove her case and lost at trial in July.

At about 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 13, paramedics went to a row house in the 300 block of Nicholson Street for a call about a child that was unresponsive, Norfolk police said in a news release at the time. They took Makayla to the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters, where she later died.

Experts determined she died after suffering injuries including skull fractures, broken ribs, bruising about her head, and bleeding throughout her brain.

At trial, prosecutors called witnesses who heard Makayla crying the night before she died and Tinsley cursing, frustrated his daughter wouldn’t go to sleep. But no one saw Tinsley shake, hit or drop the girl.

Korslund suggested in his questioning of witnesses that there were so many people in the house, some of whom regularly cared for Makayla, that it was impossible to prove who was responsible for her injuries. After the verdict, he said there were some five other adults in the house when Makayla was hurt.

“It’s clear anybody could have done this,” Korslund said at Friday’s sentencing hearing.

Tinsley admitted to the judge he “made mistakes,” including leaving Makayla at his girlfriend’s place in poor living conditions while he went to work. But, Tinsley added, he did so to provide for his children and “go higher” in life.

“I love my kids. I always loved my kids,” he said, later admitting what he did at least led to his daughter’s death. “I have to live up to that part … because now I’m one child lost.”

Follow Illicit Deeds on Facebook for more stories.

Enjoy our content? Your donation of any amount will help cover server costs required to keep it running, and will let us share more stories through our various support channels, and fight for justice for all victims.