Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
BEAVER — The mother charged in the 2021 death of a newborn infant appeared in a Beaver County courtroom for sentencing on a misdemeanor child abuse charge. The infant's father was recently sentenced to prison for manslaughter after admitting to causing the newborn's death.
The infant's mother, 34-year-old Tawna Steed, appeared Monday for a sentencing hearing held in 5th District Court in Beaver on one class A misdemeanor count of aggravated child abuse — criminal negligence.
Steed was originally charged with first-degree felony aggravated murder and second-degree felony aggravated child abuse on Oct. 20, 2021, but the charges were reduced after the infant's father, Joshua Lee Downey, 29, admitted in a letter to Steed that he was the one who caused the injuries that led to the infant's death.
Downey appeared in 5th District Court in Beaver last month and was sentenced to prison on second-degree felony manslaughter, as previously reported by St. George News.
