Amanda Hickey (L) in a Dunwoody Police Department mug shot and (R) wiping tears after watching surveillance video in prior court appearance (WAGA/screengrab)
A 48-year-old Georgia woman who ran a daycare out of her house and left a 4-month-old baby face down in a Pack ‘n Play, with fatal consequences, appeared in court Friday, admitted her guilt and was sentenced to serve three decades in prison.
Court documents reviewed by Law&Crime show that Amanda Harris Hickey entered an Alford plea to second-degree murder, an Alford plea to second-degree cruelty to children, and guilty pleas to two first-degree cruelty to children charges — totaling 35 years of prison time, 30 of which will be served behind bars and the remaining five of which will be served on probation.
“This is my legacy now,” Hickey said in court while expressing “extreme sorrow” for the death of Charles “Charlie” Arrison Cronmiller and abuse of several other children that were in her care, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Hickey was the owner of Little Lovey Daycare in Dunwoody on Feb. 3, 2021, when police and firefighters in Dekalb County responded that afternoon to a call about an unresponsive baby.
According to the Dunwoody Police Department, cops got to the scene “within minutes” and attempted to resuscitate the baby. Tragically, Charlie Cronmiller was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Hickey went on to face charges of second-degree murder, reckless conduct, and cruelty to children (9 counts) in the death of the 4-month-old boy and the abuse of several more babies, after additional incidents were discovered.
In one incident, Hickey alleged held a 7-month-old baby boy upside-down by one leg and then dropped him on his head into a Pack ‘n Play. Next, she allegedly grabbed a 10-month-old by the baby’s arm and similarly dropped the infant.
In a third incident, Hickey allegedly grabbed a 14-month-old girl “with a fist full of hair” and pulled her into a playpen. A fourth incident allegedly involved the then-daycare operator shaking a 6-month-old twice and leaving the baby crying in a bouncer covered by a blanket.
When the defendant was questioned by cops about the baby who died, she told them that she put the baby “on his back” and claimed that the 4-month-old must have rolled over on his own. But a video, which Hickey watched in court and wiped tears from her eyes upon seeing, showed that the baby was left in the Pack ‘n Play for two hours.
The defendant’s lawyers attempted to argue that Hickey was not advised of her Miranda rights and was not told she had the “right to refuse to give to the Dunwoody Police Department the surveillance footage or her DVR,” video of which proved to be damning for the defendant.
This is a developing story.
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