Adam Canales Jr: Father overdosed baby on Benadryl to get ‘quality time’ with his wife
WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT
A man has been found guilty of manslaughter after he gave his baby daughter too much cough syrup.
Adam Canales Jr, 33, now faces up to 20 years in prison after a Texas court found he had caused the death of his two-month-old daughter, Athena Brigida-Kay.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Athena died in 2021 from an overdose of Benadryl, an over-the-counter cough syrup.
The prosecution had argued that Canales gave Athena the drug so that he could have “quality time” with his 25-year-old wife, Sarah Mills
Ms Mills has been charged with manslaughter in relation to Athena’s death, but is awaiting trial.
On July 11, 2021, police found Athena’s body at the couple’s home.
Initially, Canales had denied giving his daughter any medicine other than “gas drops”, KLBK reported.
But an autopsy of the girl’s body showed she had died of “mixed drug toxicity”. After this finding, Canales revealed he had given Athena Benadryl a minimum of two times the day she died.
District Attorney Sunshine Stanek said both parents had a habit of medicating their children to get them to sleep.
“They dosed her,” she told the court.
In her closing statement, Ms Stanek said Canales was aware that his actions were dangerous, because he had admitted to knowing that infants are not supposed to take the medicine.
She also said that Canales had given Athena Benadryl so that he could have “quality time” with his partner.
In her opening statement, Ms Stanek told the court that Canales was “so selfish and reckless in his actions that he caused the death of Athena”.
“He knew he wasn’t supposed to be giving her those medicines and he lied about it,” she said.
“It is extremely reckless behaviour that resulted in the ridiculously senseless death of a little girl at the hands of her own parents.”
Canales’ defence lawyer Kristopher Mincey had argued that the reckless actions could be explained by a combination of miscommunication and mental fog caused by exhaustion and pancreatitis, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported.
He said that Canales and Ms Mills had not communicated about giving Athena the cough syrup, and this is why she had more than what was needed.
Mr Mincey also argued that Canales was not aware that giving his baby the medicine would put her at risk.
Ms Mills remains out on bond while she waits for her trial.
