State of West Virginia v. Summer McDaniel

Chief Justice Ketehum:

This case is before this Court upon the appeal of Summer McDaniel (“McDaniel”) from the June 23, 2015, order of the Circuit Court of Hardy County imposing sentence upon her conviction of involuntary manslaughter, concealment of a deceased human body and other offenses, following a jury trial, relating to the death of her twenty-six-day-old infant son (“infant”).

The State maintained that McDaniel and Joseph Christy (“Christy”), the infant’s putative father, left the State of Colorado with the infant and four other children, where child protective proceedings were pending,…