A Phoenix mother whose boyfriend kept videos of her children being physically punished on his phone was sentenced on Monday to 18 years in prison in connection with the death of her 8-year-old daughter.
Chaimara Washington pleaded guilty to child abuse of Marlai Smith, who died from multiple injuries that caused internal bleeding.
Both Washington and her boyfriend, Brandon Cooper, were arrested by police in September 2020 after Washington called 911 because Marlai stopped moving.
Washington told police that Marlai had fallen. Washington said she had been punishing Marlai by making her exercise and that Marlai had hit her head on a door knob.
But there were bruises all over Marlai’s body, according to court records.
Maricopa County Attorney’s Office prosecutor Shawn Steinberg told the court at Monday’s sentencing that there was no way that Marlai’s injuries came from falling or hitting a door knob once.
Steinberg told the court that the injuries suggested a history of abuse.
“This little girl had bruises all over her body. She also had open wounds, and they were up and down her body,” Steinberg said.
Washington also has two younger children. The two other children said Washington punished them, Steinberg said.
“All the children, all of them describe that their mother, the defendant, ‘Will pop us, whup us, and give us a beat-beat.’ Those were their words,” Steinberg said.
At the sentencing, Steinberg played a video of Washington harming the other children.
Cooper had multiple videos on his phone of the kids being physically punished, according to court records.
The Arizona Department of Child Safety had been called to investigate Washington’s family twice, once in 2018 and again in February 2020, according to the department’s statement of death.
Both cases revolved around claims that the children were being given marijuana. The department closed both cases without finding evidence to support the allegations.
When Cooper and Washington were first arrested, they were charged with first-degree murder and child abuse.
The two other children were taken to their biological father’s, according to Department of Child Safety records.
Washington and Cooper both blamed the other for Marlai’s death, according to Steinberg.
“Co-defendant Cooper blames Washington, Washington blames Cooper and, honestly, the prior prosecutor that offered this plea, maybe that concerned him, I don’t know. So we ended up here with a failure to protect,” she said.
Cooper accepted a child abuse plea agreement and was sentenced to 18 years in prison in March. Washington accepted her plea agreement in April.
Washington spoke in court on Monday, saying that she was sorry for all the harm she had caused her children and for what happened to Marlai.
She said that Cooper had been the cause of Marlai’s death and that she had failed to protect her children because she feared him.
“I made mistakes. I admit my wrongdoings. I failed to protect them. Because I was afraid of what could have been the result if I chose to go against him. It has ultimately led to the loss of my firstborn daughter,” she said.
Marlai’s younger sister, now 10, wrote a letter to the court, which Steinberg read. It was short; she wrote that she remembers sitting with her sister in bed, talking about what they would name their own kids.
“Funny how I said I was going to name my kid her name. I miss my sister. Words can’t prove how much I miss her,” her letter read.
Reach the reporter at miguel.torres@arizonarepublic.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix mother to serve 18 years in 8-year-old daughter’s death
