Mom gets 23 years for killing baby son

By KOMO Staff & News Services

Summary

Investigators said Domenique Conway punched her 5-month-old son in the head because he was squirming while she was trying to change his diaper.

Story Published: May 8, 2009 at 7:00 AM PST

Story Updated: May 8, 2009 at 7:00 AM PST

Mom gets 23 years for killing baby son
TACOMA, Wash. -- A Spanaway woman who fatally punched her baby son was sentenced in Tacoma to 23 years in prison.

Domenique Astrid Conway, 26, received a longer-than-standard sentence Thursday because she did not seek medical aid for the 5-month-old.

She pleaded guilty in January to second-degree murder.

According to court documents, Conway said the boy was crying loudly and squirming while she was trying to change his diaper. She said her two other children - 2 and 6 years old - were fighting in an adjacent room and, out of frustration, she struck Nathaniel Dwayne Noel with her fist twice on the left side of his head.

The boy was found dead four days later by sheriff's deputies who responded when Conway called 911 to report that the baby was unresponsive.

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