An Ohio mother was sentenced Friday to at least nine years in prison for manslaughter after feeding her diabetic 4-year-old daughter a diet based on Mountain Dew.
“Tamara Banks pleaded guilty to manslaughter in March in the death of her daughter, Carmity Hobe, who died in 2022 from diabetic brain damage.” New York Post report. “Prosecutors said Banks, 41, frequently fed the girl formula mixed with sweet fluorescent green soda after she was past the age she should have stopped using bottles.”
Carmity died at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital from diabetic ketoacidosis. Cincinnati Inquirer reportThe report said the girl had been showing symptoms of “serious health issues” for several days, but Banks didn’t call 911 until her daughter turned blue and stopped breathing. Prosecutors said a subsequent scan showed Carmity was brain dead.
Prosecutors argued that Carmity was abused, neglected and denied proper nutrition and medical care. They also found that Carmity’s teeth were rotten at the time of her death and that her parents had never taken her to the dentist. Mountain Dew contains 77 grams of sugar, far more than the 24 grams recommended by experts.
“This is one of the most tragic cases I’ve ever come across,” Clermont County Deputy Prosecutor Clay Tharp said. “This child did not need to die.”
Prosecutors noted that Banks also had a son who went into a coma at age 4 after he was diagnosed with undiagnosed diabetes. Clermont County District Court Judge Victor Haddad said Banks should have learned about the dangers of diabetes from her son’s condition before her daughter’s death. Inquirer report.
“It’s hard to be a good parent, but I expect you to be at least a mediocre parent,” Haddad said at Friday’s hearing. “It’s not an excuse to say you don’t know what to do.”
“I thought I was looking after her,” said Banks, who appeared in court in a wheelchair.According to the report, she regularly refilled her own prescriptions and sometimes arranged for doctors to visit her at home when she had a medical need.
“The sentence came after Tamara Banks, 41, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in March. Under state law, the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections Extending your sentence based on your prison behaviorBanks could face up to 13-and-a-half years in prison.” Inquirer report.
Carmity’s father, Christopher Hove, 53, also pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is due to be sentenced in June.
