Woman pleads no contest to murder

A woman whose infant died last September pleaded no contest to a second-degree murder charge and three other felonies.

Amanda Dawn Triplett, 25, appeared in the Third District Court of Judge Nena James Aug. 27 at a change of plea hearing to first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and two counts of child abuse.

In exchange for Amanda’s no contest plea, the first-degree murder charge was reduced to a second-degree murder charge, the rest of the felony charges remained the same.

A sentencing hearing will take place at a later date.

Her husband, Jacob Anthony Joseph Triplett, who was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and two counts of child abuse stemming from the same case, has a motion hearing set for Thursday at 1 p.m. in Third District Court of Judge Nena James. This motion will cover issues related to the jury trial, which is scheduled to take place Sept. 21, 2015. Some items listed in the motion document, include motions to suppress evidence obtained in the search of his cell phone records, bank account, Facebook account, truck and searches at Sweetwater Medics and Castle Rock Ambulance. The state intends to use information discovered in its searches during the trial.

All of these charges stem from the incident that happened on Sept. 15, 2014.

According to court documents, on that day, Rock Springs Police Department officers responded to the Tripletts’ home in Rock Springs to assist with a medical call involving an infant that had stopped breathing. The girl was taken to Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County and was found to be malnourished and dehydrated. The infant was then taken into protective custody by the Wyoming Department of Family Services and was transported to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City., where she, identified as S, was found to be brain dead and was taken off of life support and died.

On Sept. 16, 2014, detectives from the Green River Police Department conducted a welfare check on the Tripletts’ three other children. The children are a four-year-old boy, identified as N.L., a two-year-old boy, identified as L.T. and a four-month-old girl, identified as K.T.  

K.T. is the deceased girl’s twin and they were both born seven weeks premature.

Upon examining K.T., detectives found the child was malnourished and immediately had the infant transported to MHSC. K.T., was later transported to Primary Children’s Hospital, and the three children were taken into protective custody.

RSPD officers interviewed the Tripletts; and Amanda said she woke up from a nap at about 1 p.m. Sept. 15, 2014, and noticed S was breathing abnormally. She tried to wake S up, but the infant was unresponsive. She notified Jacob, who started giving the child rescue breaths, but neither called 911 for 15 minutes.

Amanda told the investigators she had not sought medical attention or follow-up appointments with doctors after giving birth to K.T. and S., against doctors’ recommendations.

Amanda discontinued using the brand of baby formula and feeding instructions recommended by her doctor and started using a less expensive formula.

To feed the infants, Amanda used a propping method of keeping the bottles in the babies’ mouths and she did not supervise the infants’ feeding; and often left them to care for the other two children.

Amanda gave the babies a diluted formula mixture. She also alleged Jacob didn’t feed the babies because he didn’t know his own strength and was afraid of hurting them.

A medical report authored by Dr. Raquel Vargas-While Sept. 16, 2014, concluded S had healing rib fractures on the right sixth, seventh and eighth ribs. During a follow up interview with Dr. Vargas-While on Sept. 17, 2014, the doctor stated it was her opinion that severe malnourishment and dehydration resulted in the child suffering from cardiac arrest.

Dr. Vargas-Whale also said that while examining K.T., two broken posterior ribs were discovered, one on each side of her body. K.T.’s bone lab tests were normal. Dr. Vargas-Whale also said she believed fractures suffered by S and K.T. indicated abusive handling, saying the fractures K.T. had were indicative of a “squeezing mechanism,” as if they were picked up by their ribs and squeezed.

Dr. Vargas-Whale also told investigators that the propping method Amanda used, in conjunction with her switching the formula without informing a doctor lead to the severe dehydration and malnourishment the twins suffered from.

An autopsy performed on S revealed the girl had minor markings on her body that indicated abuse. It also revealed S’s rib injuries were healing and were estimated to have been between two-to-six weeks old. Medical examiners also found evidence indicating S had suffered from severe dehydration and malnutrition. Doctors also noted S’s low temperature at the time emergency medical personnel arrived at the Triplett home indicated S would have died significantly before the time Amanda found S.

 

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