A father who found his toddler daughter dead in the backseat of the car has called for the child's mother to be sentenced to hell instead of prison for passing out on drugs and leaving her to die.
Deanna J. Joseph, 40, was sentenced to the maximum term of 15 years in prison on Friday in Alloway Township, New Jersey for her role in the August 2017 death of two-year-old Kayley Freeman.
Joseph pleaded guilty in January to manslaughter, child endangerment and drug and weapons charges.
'The tears are made so you feel bad for her,' outraged father Thomas Freeman said in a letter to the court read prior to sentencing,
NJ.com reported. 'Every tear is a lie.'
'Hell is not good enough for her,' Freeman said, noting that there was no reason for Joseph to take young Hayley on multiple drug-buying runs the day she died. 'Fifteen years is not enough time. Kayley's life was worth way more than that.'
The grieving father described the utter horror of finding Kayley slumped over in her car seat in a Mercedes at the end of the driveway where the couple shared a home.
'I found my daughter dead in a car seat. I didn't sleep for days... I have flashbacks,' he said.
An autopsy determined that Kayley died of positional asphyxia, a condition in which a person's breathing is obstructed because of the way their body is positioned.
Joseph was slumped over in the driver's seat while Kayley died feet away from her.
Searches of her car and home turned up bags with trace amounts of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine. A blood test revealed cocaine in her system.
Cops also found an unloaded, defaced handgun in the trunk of her car, along with ammunition.
A court later heard that Joseph traveled to Salem twice to purchase drugs - with Kayley strapped in the car seat the whole time - on the day the toddler died.
Joseph has a lengthy criminal record with 10 felony convictions. In two of those cases, she left a child alone while high on drugs.
Superior Court Judge Linda Lawhun handed down the 15-year sentence on Friday, including concurrent 10-year terms on the manslaughter and endangering charges, a concurrent 3-year term for the drug charge and a consecutive 5-year term for the weapons offense.
Joseph must serve at least 85 per cent of the manslaughter term and at least 1 year of the weapons sentence before she is eligible for parole.
Defense attorney Peter Alfinito said Kayley's death was a tragic accident, saying his client was gripped by drug addiction and would gladly have taken her daughter's place to save her.
'She is truly remorseful,' he said. 'She will do her sentence and hopefully when she does get out... she will be able to be a part of society.'