A 34-year-old Ohio man, Michael Mayor, will spend at least more than a decade in prison after he slammed a 15-month-old girl’s head into the floor after she wouldn’t stop crying.
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As reported by the Dayton Daily News, Mayor was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison on Tuesday, August 5. Back in June, he pleaded guilty to felony murder, with the additional charges of murder, endangering children, and felonious assault being dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
Miami Judge Jeannine Pratt called Mayor “pure evil,” and added that the imposed sentence was mandatory under state law. This has been a point of controversy, with the victim’s family pushing for harsher sentences for cases such as Mayor’s.
“If I had the discretion, you would be getting a much larger sentence,” Pratt told Mayor.
Toddler Murder
The incident occurred back on December 5, 2024. As reported by Dayton Daily News, Piqua Police Department officers responded to an unresponsive toddler call around 3:12 p.m.
Upon arrival, officers learned from a babysitter that the girl, 15-month-old Vivian Jaymes Gardner, was pale and had bruises on her head, as per a police report. Vivan was airlifted to Dayton Children’s Hospital after being transported to Upper Valley Medical Center. Weeks later, on December 19, the toddler succumbed to her injuries.
The report detailed that Vivian had been left with the babysitter at around 5:30 a.m. The girl was left alone with three other children and Mayor, while the babysitter went to take other children to school.
At around 10:30 a.m., however, footage shows Vivian crying and Mayor picking her up and bringing her to a bedroom. Then, once she returned, the babysitter found Garnder on the bedroom floor, believing at first she was asleep.
At around 3 p.m., after checking on her throughout the day, the babysitter went to wake up Vivian, worried since she had not woken up. The report said that that’s when the babysitter realized Vivian was unresponsive and that “her breathing was shallow.”
In an interview with the police, Mayor said that Gardner wouldn’t stop crying at the time. As a result, he took her to the bedroom so the 15-month-old could sleep. As her crying got louder, Mayor then “shook” her and then slammed her on the bedroom floor.
After being slammed, Vivian stopped crying, and Mayor believed the toddler had fallen asleep, as per the report.
Michael Mayor was charged with felonious assault and three counts of endangering children at the time, as per Law & Crime. However, after Vivian died, Mayor’s charges were upgraded to three counts of murder.