A Pontiac man convicted in the death of his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter has been handed a stacked prison term that will keep him behind bars for more than a decade.
Shean Amerson, 27, was sentenced today after a jury found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter and second-degree child abuse in the death of 3-year-old A'ziya Matthews. The prison terms, ordered to run one after the other, add up to a lengthy stay in state custody.
According to The Oakland Press, Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Daniel O'Brien imposed an 86-month to 15-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter and a consecutive 6-to-10-year term for second-degree child abuse. Court records show Amerson was credited with 1,505 days already served, and with that credit applied, The Oakland Press reports he will hit his minimum sentence in roughly three years.
What investigators say about the injuries
Deputies were called to the 1500 block of Grandville Court in December 2021, where they found A'ziya unresponsive. She was rushed to a local hospital, then transferred to the Children's Hospital of Michigan, officials said. She died two days later.
Medical staff told detectives the girl had multiple broken ribs in different stages of healing, round wounds that appeared consistent with cigarette burns, two black eyes, severe head trauma and a collapsed lung, according to reporting by CBS News. The injuries described by doctors became central to the case built against Amerson.
Charges and the trial
Prosecutors initially charged Amerson with first-degree felony murder and first-degree child abuse, counts that could have carried a life sentence. After a trial that began January 22, the jury instead convicted him of the lesser offenses of involuntary manslaughter and second-degree child abuse, according to ClickOnDetroit.
The verdict meant Amerson avoided a potential life term, but still faced significant prison time once the judge decided how the sentences would be structured.
Sentence math and time served
Judge O'Brien ordered the two sentences to run consecutively rather than at the same time, a decision that sharply increased the total length of Amerson's prison stint. Court records list 1,505 days of credit for the time Amerson had already spent in jail awaiting trial and sentencing.
As noted by The Oakland Press, that credit substantially reduces the time remaining before he reaches his first possible release date at the low end of the sentencing guidelines.
Officials react
Even early in the investigation, the case struck a nerve with local law enforcement. Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, speaking after A'ziya was first hospitalized and the scope of her injuries became clear, told reporters it was hard to imagine a human being can be so cruel and inhumane. His comment, carried in coverage by ClickOnDetroit, underscored the horror investigators said they encountered.
A'ziya Matthews was 3 years old when she was found unresponsive on December 18, 2021, and died two days later at the Children's Hospital of Michigan, according to CBS News. With sentencing now complete, future developments in the case are likely to play out in appellate filings and court records, as noted in ongoing local reporting.
