Modesto mom sentenced for infant daughter’s death

There was nobody in the courtroom Friday to speak about how they were affected by the death of A’Shayla Jackson, a 3-month-old who died alone in a dark room wearing a urine-soaked diaper after weeks of starvation.

The child’s mother, Christine Marie Rocco, didn’t speak. A bailiff ushered her out of the courtroom Friday morning to begin serving a sentence of 15 years to life in prison for her daughter’s death.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Annette Rees said after the sentencing that it’s heartbreaking that there wasn’t anyone from this little girl’s family to appear in court to support A’Shayla.

But the prosecutor said the infant’s death affected those involved in the murder case, including the emergency medical technician who responded to her home, the Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputy called to investigate, the deputy coroner who notified prosecutors of the suspicious death and Child Protective Services social workers who questioned the girl’s mother.

“Each of us have been permanently affected by the suffering of this tiny child, and all refused to ever give up fighting for justice for the brief but significant life of A’Shayla Jackson,” Rees said. A jury on May 20 found Rocco guilty of second-degree murder.

On the morning of Jan. 11, 2009, the infant’s lifeless body was found on a carpeted bedroom floor of her grandparents’ south Modesto home. Rocco had been in a nearby room for several hours the night before.

Deputy Public Defender Sweena Pannu, Rocco’s attorney, has said her client was then a 21-year-old mother with no parental support of her own. In her closing argument to the jury, Pannu said Rocco’s ability to understand the seriousness of her daughter’s condition was impaired.

Forensic psychologist Phil Trompetter testified that Rocco suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, stemming from sexual abuse she is believed to have endured as a child. He said it contributed to the inaction that led to her daughter’s death.

Rocco moved from Arizona to Modesto on Dec. 2, 2008, two months after her daughter was born. She moved in with her parents. Pannu said Rocco’s parents did not want her or her children there, and her father disapproved of Rocco’s being unmarried with two children who were the product of an interracial relationship.

The prosecutor has argued A’Shayla should have weighed 11 pounds when she was found dead. Instead, the baby’s weight had dropped to less than 6 pounds. Rees said the infant was found emaciated with dirty pale skin and sunken eyes, and rigor mortis had already set in.

In her filed sentencing recommendation, the prosecutor wrote that Rocco allowed her daughter to die a prolonged and painful death. Rees also wrote that Rocco lied to county agencies to maintain government financial assistance, lied about how much she was feeding the baby and failed to seek medical care for her daughter.

Pannu asked the court to sentence Rocco to six years and three months she has already served in the county jail and probation. The defense attorney called the child’s death a “terrible tragedy,” and said her client was not trying to shirk punishment or deny responsibility.

“Short of bringing A’Shayla Jackson back to life there is no way to truly rectify this situation,” Pannu wrote in her filed sentencing recommendation. “She will have to live with the knowledge that her daughter died as a result of her mistake for the rest of her life.”

Rocco said she was waiting for a Medi-Cal card to take the baby to a doctor. But a letter was found at the home indicating that Rocco’s two children could receive full Medi-Cal health services starting Dec. 1, 2008.

This story was originally published November 4, 2016 at 7:13 PM with the headline "Modesto mom sentenced for infant daughter’s death."