BELFAST — A Troy mother was sentenced to spend the next 13 years in prison for the Jan. 12 death of her infant son.

Miranda Hopkins, 32, was sentenced to 18 years in prison with five years suspended for manslaughter in Waldo County Superior Court Dec. 13. She will also serve four years of probation upon her release.

A jury convicted Hopkins Nov. 7, following a week-long trial. A murder charge was dismissed.

Hopkins called 9-1-1 around 2 a.m. Jan. 12, saying she had woken in the middle of the night and discovered her seven-week-old son, Jaxson, bruised and unresponsive, according to court documents.

Both law enforcement and emergency services attempted to revive the child, who was found to be without signs of life after roughly 20 minutes of CPR.

A postmortem examination determined the infant died as a result of “blunt force head injuries,” including skull fractures and bleeding on the brain. He also suffered fractures to his right shoulder and rib.

Hopkins initially told law enforcement that Jaxson was fine when she put him to bed in his boppy pillow on her bed around 9 p.m., and that he was still warm and breathing when she went to bed roughly 90 minutes later. She said it was when she awoke again just before 2 a.m. that she found him cold to the touch and visibly bruised.

She later changed her story, telling investigators she actually drank substantially more than the two shots she had originally claimed and was intoxicated the night Jaxson died.

In this version of events, Hopkins told law enforcement she thought she had passed out while putting her older two children to bed, and did not know how Jaxson ended up in his boppy pillow, or on her bed. She said it was after waking in her older children’s room that she discovered Jaxson’s battered body.  

Upon release, some of the terms of Hopkins’ probation include random searching and testing for alcohol and drugs, both of which she will be prohibited from using. She will also be required to seek treatment for mental health and substance abuse issues.

Hopkins is scheduled to begin her sentence Dec. 26.

Erica Thoms can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com