Arlington man gets probation for failing to help child before she died in 2018 abuse case
An Arlington man was sentenced on Friday to three years of probation for failing to intervene in physical abuse that a woman is accused of inflicting on a 2-year-old girl who died in 2018 at an Arlington hospital.
In an agreement reached with prosecutors, 43-year-old Derick Roberson pleaded guilty to injury to a child by omission in the case of 2-year-old Aniyah Darnell, who died in November 2018.
Roberson received deferred adjudication, which means the conviction won’t appear on his record if he successfully completes the terms of his probation.
“We are happy with this,” said Fort Worth attorney Michael Campbell Jr. on Friday, referring to the sentence. Campbell represented Roberson. “He gets a second chance at life.”
The sentencing came just weeks after a judge declared a mistrial in Roberson’s case..
In December, the mistrial was declared after a Tarrant County jury in 297th District Court in Fort Worth could not agree on a verdict in the case of Roberson, who faced a charge of capital murder.
Campbell said jurors were split 11 to 1 with the majority voting not guilty on the capital murder charge.
Aniyah died while she was in the care of Roberson, 42, of Arlington, and Shamonica Jackson, 38, of Fort Worth, authorities have said.
Roberson and Jackson had custody of Aniyah. Jackson is accused of abusing the toddler and causing her death.
Jackson is charged with capital murder in the case, and her trial is scheduled for March 3.
Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty for Jackson.
Roberson and Jackson began caring for Aniyah in August 2018, but Jackson later told Arlington police she had grown frustrated with the child for going to the bathroom in her clothes. According to an affidavit obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 2018, Jackson hit the child with a belt and her hand to teach the girl “a lesson.”
Jackson told police the girl had a bad injury, described as a burn, on her rear, but she had not taken the girl to the hospital. Instead Jackson tried “home remedies” to treat the injury and continued to discipline the girl by hitting her, according to the affidavit.
The girl was found unresponsive at the Las Lomas Apartments at 816 Timberlake Drive in southeast Arlington. Police arrived at the apartment about 1:30 a.m. and found a group of people trying to leave in a car.
Aniyah died about 2:15 a.m. on Nov. 17, 2018, in the emergency room of Medical City Arlington, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office. A forensic pathologist determined the cause of her death was battered child with dehydration and the manner was homicide.
During the period in which they had custody of Aniyah, Roberson was aware that Jackson repeatedly struck the girl, and gave her a bath that caused severe burns to her buttocks and foot, prosecutors alleged.
Roberson failed to intervene in the physical abuse that Jackson inflicted on Aniyah, the state contended. After the belt beating, Roberson did not seek medical attention for the girl and did not perform CPR on her, prosecutors alleged.
Two other children at the home were put into the custody of Child Protective Services, police said.
Jackson had been caring for Aniyah for her biological mother, whom police didn’t identify.
The hung jury came just weeks after a judge granted a continuance in Roberson’s trial
In October, Judge Lee Gabriel granted the motion from Campbell and attorneys Andrew Wilkerson of Dallas and Shehzad Shaikh of Hurst, who represented Roberson.
Gabriel was the new judge for the trial after Judge David Hagerman, who presides in the 297th District Court, recused himself from the case.
This article includes information from the Star-Telegram’s archives.
