Woman gets 2 days in prison for her son’s suffocation death

HARRISBURG, PA (WHTM) – A Pennsylvania woman will serve two days in county prison for the suffocation death of her infant son.

Arissa K. Ward, 24, of Middletown, must also serve three months of house arrest with electronic monitoring, 40 hours of community service, and five years of probation, according to court records.

Ward was sentenced Wednesday in Dauphin County Court. She pleaded no contest in April to misdemeanor counts of involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child.

Ward’s 2-month-old son was found dead Dec. 30, 2016, at a home in the 300 block of Lawrence Street.

She told investigators she drank alcohol and smoked marijuana before falling asleep with the baby on a couch, according to the criminal complaint in the case.

As part of her sentence, Ward will be randomly tested for drugs and she is not permitted to drink alcohol.

She was ordered to report to the county prison on Monday.