A Nevada woman has been sentenced to at least 20 years in prison in connection with the death of her boyfriend’s 5-year-old daughter in 2019.
A jury in July convicted 26-year-old Shevhuan Miller on charges of murder and child abuse.
The Clark County coroner’s office determined 5-year-old Janiyah Russell died of blunt force injuries.
On Thursday, a district judge sentenced Miller to between 20 and 50 years in prison for first-degree murder and child abuse, neglect or endangerment resulting in substantial bodily harm.
The child’s father, 27-year-old Richard Davis, is scheduled to go to trial in February.
Prosecutors said Davis is facing charges of murder and six counts of child abuse, neglect or endangerment resulting in substantial bodily harm.
Court records show Davis and Miller called police on September 11, 2019, to report the child was cold and unresponsive.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Miller told police she put the child in the bathtub and later dressed the girl, laid her on a couch and went back to bed for two hours.
Davis admitted to spanking his daughter with a belt about 20 times a few days earlier, according to the newspaper.
The laceration to Janiyah’s liver was “so significant” that the doctor who performed the 5-year-old’s autopsy told police she could not have survived the injury for more than a few minutes.
In addition to the lacerated liver, Las Vegas police have said, Janiyah had bruising around both eyes, her forehead, lips, neck, arms, legs and abdomen.
Yet in an interview with Las Vegas police, Miller described Janiyah’s injuries as “minor,” according to her arrest report.
Miller claims that on Sept. 10, the day before Janiyah died, the girl had gotten into a “scuffle” with some neighborhood kids at The Suites, an extended-stay apartment complex near Boulder Highway and Twain Avenue, where the girl lived with her dad, Richard Davis, and Miller, whom she referred to as “Mom.”
“She describes the injuries as minor and was not concerned for her safety,” a Metropolitan Police Department abuse and neglect detective wrote in the report. “She did not knock on any neighbors’ doors and she did not report the incident to security or police.”
The girl’s father also would later tell police that his daughter “showed no signs of being injured.”
“Janiyah ate some chicken nuggets from Popeye’s, played with her toys and was put down to sleep on the couch,” according to the report.
Early the next morning, while the girl’s father was out donating blood at a local blood bank, Miller called 911 to report that Janiyah, “after being given a bath, was unresponsive,” the report states.
Janiyah was rushed to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. The Clark County coroner’s office had not publicly released her cause and manner of death as of Wednesday afternoon, but in the arrest report, police noted that the doctor who performed Janiyah’s autopsy said “she would rule this case a homicide by child abuse.”
Davis and Miller started dating six years prior and Miller had been a part of Janiyah’s life since she was born.
“Janiyah called this woman ‘Mom,’” Myra Anderson, the child’s aunt said, crying. “She knew her as ‘Mom.’ She didn’t know anyone else as ‘Mom’ but her.”
That’s because, according to Anderson, Janiyah had been in and out of foster homes while under the care of her biological mother in another state. Davis had recently regained custody of his daughter before her death.
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