Taunton woman sentenced to prison for boyfriend’s 2-year-old son’s head injury

A 32-year-old Taunton woman was convicted at trial of severe abuse of a toddler in her care and was sentenced on Friday to serve six to eight years in state prison, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.

Alanna Taylor was convicted after a week-long trial in Fall River Superior Court on indictments charging her with Assault and Battery on a Child-Causing Substantial Bodily Injury and Obstruction of Justice.

Taylor and her fiancé had one biological daughter together. Taylor also had another daughter from a previous relationship. In September of 2019, the 2-year-old victim (who is not the biological child of the defendant) was placed in the Taunton home with his father, Taylor, and her 2 children. Thus, Taylor was caring for 3 small children while her fiancé worked long hours outside the home.

On December 11, 2019, Taylor had a friend stop over to drop off a nebulizer for her daughter.  The friend noticed the 2-year-old victim was fine but remained seated on the toilet for the entire 20-30 minutes that the friend was at the home. The friend then left the home (victim was still on the toilet) and within minutes Taylor called the friend back to her home. When the friend re-entered the home, Taylor was holding victim who she described as “lifeless.” The friend told Taylor they needed to call 911 right away, but she told her not to because she did not want DCF involved. The friend called 911 anyway.

The baby was taken to Morton Hospital then med flighted to Hasbro Children’s hospital. He was in critical condition and had to be intubated. He had an acute head injury that resulted in a massive subdural hemorrhage. This injury would have been immediately symptomatic. Doctors performed a craniotomy. The baby also had bilateral ear bruising and bruising on his cheek and jaw. The doctor testified that the injuries were “consistent with life-threatening inflicted injury and child physical abuse.”

Taylor was interviewed that day and told police she and her friend were in the living room when she went into the bathroom to tell the victim lunch was ready. She said he got excited, and he fell off the toilet. She said she did not see how the baby fell but that he hit his head on the bathtub. The friend initially told police she was present when baby fell. Later, when she realized the extent of the injuries to the child, the friend told Taylor she would no longer lie to the police for her. Text messages recovered from her phone show conversations with Taylor, telling the friend that she must lie for her because she is her only witness.

The evidence at trial proved Taylor caused a near fatal injury to the child’s head.

The trial was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney MaryClare Cushing and the state prison sentence was imposed by Judge Daniel O’Shea.  In addition to the prison sentence, the defendant was placed on additional two years of probation. During the sentencing hearing last Friday, Assistant District Attorney Cushing argued for an eight to 12 year state prison sentence, while the defense asked for a three to five year prison term.

“I am very pleased that the jury held the defendant accountable for inflicting life-threatening injuries on the two-year-old victim who was not her natural child. She repeatedly lied about her involvement in seriously injuring the child and tried to get her friend to lie and cover up for her,” District Attorney Quinn said. “Sadly. the defendant is not fit to care for any children. I commend the defendant’s friend for testifying against her, which was not an easy thing to do.”