A mother who threw her 3-year-old daughter in a pool and let the toddler sink to the bottom will spend a year in prison.
"I love my children very much," Joy Miller Frank, 37, said just before Spotsylvania County Circuit Court Judge David H. Beck sentenced her to five years on each of the charges she pleaded guilty to earlier this year. He suspended four years and six months on each.
Frank pleaded guilty to child neglect and third offense assault and battery on a family member in March.
Frank's attorney, Eugene Frost, focused most of his evidence during yesterday's sentencing hearing on Frank's mental health problems.
Frank suffers from bipolar disorder and alcoholism, expert witnesses testified yesterday.
The incident that led to her charges last Aug. 6 occurred when she was intoxicated with a .26 blood alcohol content, according to evidence presented yesterday in court.
According to a March plea agreement, Frank was playing in an outdoor pool at a friend's home with her 3-year-old daughter last summer.
While playing, the toddler ripped Frank's shirt, so she angrily threw the girl into the center of the pool. She sank to the bottom.
After realizing Frank was not helping her daughter, a 7-year-old girl went to the bottom of the pool to bring the toddler up for air, according to the agreement.
Witnesses said the younger girl was not immediately breathing and her skin and lips were a shade of purple.
Prosecutor Brian Boyle played the tape yesterday of the 911 call made after the child was lifted from the pool exactly a year ago.
The 7-year-old was the only person outside when the pool incident occurred, but other adults inside the house called for emergency services and were able to revive the child as rescue workers came to the home, Boyle said.
While the 3-year-old was en route to the hospital, Frank sat on the couch, drinking a beer, and, still angry, kicked her 1-year-old daughter across the kitchen floor, according to witness statements in the plea agreement.
The incident with her younger daughter is what led to Frank's assault conviction.
"But for the heroic actions of a 7-year-old girl, there would be a dead child in this case," Boyle said. "This would be a murder case"
Frost argued though, that Frank was not in her right mind when the incidents occurred and that she has come to realize her mistakes and is ready to get the help she needs.
"This is a mother," he said. "This is not the cold-blooded killer the commonwealth wants you to believe."
Frost said Frank has given custody of the children to her aunt since her arrest, in hopes to keep them safe and "safe from her."
After being released from jail on bond last fall, Frank began mental evaluations and counseling through the Rappahannock Area Community Services Board and a doctor, group therapist and counselor from the agency were all called to testify on her behalf yesterday.
Each discussed the vast improvements Frank had made in her life since she was charged with harming her daughters.
"She's consistently making progress," said Paul Woodard, the clinic coordinator at RACSB.
But Beck said Frank needed to be held accountable for her actions, and so he sentenced her to more than the 3-6 months recommended by the sentencing guidelines.
"Nothing that you did saved that child on that day," he said as an explanation for the sentence. "These acts cannot go unpunished."
Ellen Biltz: 540/374-5424
Email: ebiltz@freelancestar.com