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Michelle Stanton, 29, was sentenced to four years in state prison, Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland said in a news release on Thursday, Nov. 21. She pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in the death of six-month-old Christian Carty on Sunday, June 25, 2023.
Investigators said Stanton had passed out while holding Christian after consuming 12-14 "airplane bottles" of vodka at her home on Wilde Avenue in the Villas. Hours later, she woke to find him unresponsive, wedged between the mattress and the wall in her bedroom.
Christian was pronounced dead at Cape Regional Medical Center shortly after 3 a.m. An autopsy determined he died of "mechanical asphyxia" caused by the compression of his torso.
Stanton was arrested on Thursday, May 9. She was indicted for second-degree manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child on Tuesday, Aug. 20.
Stanton entered her manslaughter guilty plea on Monday, Sept. 23. The deal with prosecutors reduced her sentencing level by one degree.
As part of the sentence she received on Tuesday, Nov. 19, Stanton must serve more than three years before she can be eligible for parole under the No Early Release Act.
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