Prison ordered for Morenci woman who allowed daughter to be sexually abused

[Sugar Cookie]

A Morenci woman will spend more than 12 years in prison for letting her daughter be sexually molested by registered sex offenders in exchange for money and a car.

Jaimee Lee Carden, 37, pleaded no contest in November to single counts of first-degree child abuse and assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder or by strangulation in the sex abuse case. She also pleaded no contest to fourth-degree fleeing police in a separate incident.

Circuit Judge Anna Marie Anzalone followed the plea agreement and sentenced Carden to a minimum of 12 1/2 years in prison on the child abuse charge and set a maximum of 40 years. Anzalone also sentenced Carden to five to 10 years in prison on the assault charge and 16 months to two years in prison on the fleeing police charge.

The girl, who is now 12, tearfully read a victim impact statement in court Friday, describing the effects of the abuse that started when she was 4 years old. She tried to tell her mother what was happening.

"When I needed her the most, she shut me out and said it didn't happen that way," the girl said.

She has participated in individual and group therapy, she said.

"I've had countless nightmares for a very long time," she said, adding that "it's so very hard" for her to talk about what happened. It took her several minutes at the podium before she could read her statement in a quiet voice.

"I try very hard to hate my mother for what she did to me, but I can't because she's my mother I will always love her," she said.

Carden's attorney, David Goldstein of Ann Arbor, said she is not an evil person. He said her actions were due to her "incredibly intense addiction to drugs. She was using cocaine, morphine, heroin and alcohol on a daily basis. Her drug use started when she was 13.

"She's not accused of doing things. She's accused of not doing things, which is not protecting her children," he told Anzalone. "…The problem, your honor, never having been a drug addict, I think its hard for me to understand — and I think anyone who's never been a drug addict — the power and control hard drugs have over someone's life.…

"My client was allowing other individuals to do things in order for her to feed her habit. I'm not excusing what she did. I'm not trying to justify what she did. I'm trying to understand what she did, why a mother would allow this to happen to her children?"

"If it had not been for the drugs, this probably would not have happened," he said.

Goldstein said Carden would need treatment while in prison so that when she gets out she won't return to using drugs.

Carden apologized through tears to her children and family for the pain and suffering she caused because of her addiction. She said she was throwing herself at the mercy of the court and asked for long-term, in-patient treatment to address her mental health issues.

"I realize my mental health is my No. 1 trigger," she said. "I know it's a lot of work in recovery, but with the right support I know I can and will do it. I'm 37 with a college degree. I've never been in trouble before this. I can promise I will never get in trouble again as I have learned my lesson. I have already lost everything due to my addiction and choices I made losing my children, my family, my career."

Lenawee County Prosecutor Jackie Wyse told the court Carden was not convicted for failing to act.

"Jamie Carden was notified multiple times that Sam Compton and Ernie Black were sex offenders," Wyse said. "It's not that she failed to protect (her children). She put them in situations to be around those sexual predators. She indicated she did that because she was getting money, vehicles, whatever she needed to feed her drug habit. That's not a failure to act. That's a willful act to put your child in those situations."

Lenawee County Assistant Prosecutor Douglas Hartung recounted the events that followed Carden's drug abuse.

"The breadth and scope of the tragedy that was put in motion by Jaimee Carden's drug addiction borders on mythological Greek tragedies," he said.

Carden "basically sold her daughter for drugs," he said. Then, the victim's father, Christopher Lee-Ryan Carden, "in cold blood murdered two men and almost a third."

That third man was Ernest Black. Christopher Carden was accused of forcing his way into a residence in Morenci after killing Compton and Braman in search of Black.

Carden also intended to murder Jaimee Carden and then kill himself, Hartung and Jaimee Carden said Friday.

After issuing the sentences, Anzalone told the girl that children can't choose their parents or most things that happen to them.

"You can choose the future you will have," she said. "And you're sitting there with some wonderful people who will help you do that. I wish you the best of luck."

Prison ordered for Morenci woman who allowed daughter to be sexually abused

A prosecutor said Jaimee Lee Carden "sold her daughter for drugs," and her addiction led to two murders. Carden was sentenced to prison Friday.

www.yahoo.com

The child's father, Christopher Lee-Ryan Carden, is awaiting sentencing after killing one of the men who raped his child.

Man charged with open murder after 2 men killed in Adrian, police say

A man has been charged with open murder after two men were killed in Adrian, according to police.

www.clickondetroit.com

 

[Flam3inKaiju]

Good proper dad. To bad he didnt torture the pedos

 

[Sugar Cookie]

This little girl is a hero, I hope she is surrounded by people who love and protect her.

 

[McDanel]

Doesn't the article say he killed two? Maybe one was collateral damage.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Doesn't the article say he killed two? Maybe one was collateral damage.

Christopher Carden was accused of forcing his way into a residence in Morenci after killing Compton and Braman in search of Black.

Carden also intended to murder Jaimee Carden and then kill himself, Hartung and Jaimee Carden said Friday.

Christopher Carden pleaded guilty in April 2022 to murdering one of the sex offenders whom Jaimee Carden allowed to be with the girl. Christopher Carden shot to death Compton, 82, and another man, Robert Braman Sr., 67, in January 2020, at the residence they shared in Adrian, shortly after he was released from prison. Braman also was a registered sex offender, but was not implicated in abusing the Cardens’ daughter.

Prison ordered for Morenci woman who allowed daughter to be sexually abused

A prosecutor said Jaimee Lee Carden "sold her daughter for drugs," and her addiction led to two murders. Carden was sentenced to prison Friday.

www.yahoo.com

 

[McDanel]

So it was a collateral victim, but at least another pedo