Drunk NJ mom who caused baby son’s suffocation death heads to prison

🔻NJ baby dies in tragedy
🔻NJ mom was drunk as death happened
🔻Young woman gets prison

LOWER TOWNSHIP — A 29-year-old mother has been sentenced to four years in prison for causing her infant son’s death last year.

Michelle Stanton, of the Villas section, was indicted in August on second-degree counts of manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child.

In September, she pleaded guilty to second-degree count manslaughter, to be sentenced a degree lower, Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland said.

Stanton must serve 40 months of the term received Tuesday, before being eligible for parole.

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On June 25, 2023, Lower Township Police responded to an emergency call from Stanton's residence on East Wilde Avenue.

Investigators found Stanton drank between 12 to 14 “airplane” sized, typically 50 ml, bottles of vodka before falling asleep with her six-month-old son in her arms.

Hours later, she woke to find the baby wedged between the mattress and a bedroom wall, unconscious and unresponsive.

An autopsy determined the cause of death was suffocation, due to compression of the baby’s torso between the wall and mattress.

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The baby was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

Hours after her son died, Stanton had a blood alcohol content of .148, NJ.com previously reported, citing toxicology results.

The same report said police recovered 99 mini-sized bottles of flavored vodka from Stanton’s room.

Sutherland previously said of the case that he wanted to “commend the assistant prosecutor and detectives involved for their commitment to seeking justice and understanding in the face of heartbreaking circumstances.”

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