Font ResizeA Sanpete County woman was sentenced Thursday to prison for up to 30 years for fatally beating her 2-year-old daughter earlier this year.
Ariel Hampton, 23, of Centerfield, was charged with child-abuse homicide, a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in prison.
Hampton pleaded guilty Thursday to two lesser counts of second-degree felony child-abuse homicide and obstructing justice, each count punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Sixth District Judge Wallace Lee sentenced Hampton immediately, ordering the two prison terms to run consecutively.
On May 7, Hampton called 911 to report she had found her child, Kirsten Anderson, face down in a wading pool in the front yard of their home, according to court documents.
An ambulance crew arrived at the home about 9 p.m. and pronounced Kirsten dead on the way to a hospital.
Emergency room doctors told police there were a number of inconsistencies in Hampton's drowning story: The child was not wet, there were bruises all over her body and X-rays showed no water in her lungs.
Confronted with the inconsistencies, Hampton "finally broke down" and admitted beating her daughter "for a long time," court documents state.
An autopsy later confirmed the child's death resulted from "physical injuries," according to a news release issued Thursday by Sanpete County Attorney Ross Blackham.
The obstructing charge to which Hampton pleaded guilty stems from
Centerfield Police Chief Brett McCall has said there was no evidence the girl had been abused prior to the day she was killed.
McCall has said that Hampton has two other young children who were being cared for by a family member.
