By Jason Geary - TheLedger.com

July 12, 2012

A Lakeland woman was sentenced Thursday morning to life in prison without parole for starving her infant daughter to death.

Last month, a jury found Tivasha Logan guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated manslaughter of a child.

Circuit Judge Donald Jacobsen asked Logan whether she wanted to say anything before he imposed her punishment.

Sniffling softly with tears in her eyes, Logan, 27, shook her head slightly.

Her lawyer, Stephen Fisher, said Logan never meant to harm her 5-month-old daughter, Chauntasia Gardner.

"She loved her child, and her death was the last thing she wanted," Fisher said.

The judge didn't have any discretion to impose anything other than life imprisonment for the murder conviction.

Under Florida law, Jacobsen wasn't permitted to also impose a separate sentence against Logan for aggravated manslaughter of a child.

The murder and manslaughter verdicts involved the same death.

The manslaughter guilty verdict will remain "stayed indefinitely."

The judge denied a defense request for a new trial.

During last month's trial, Logan was found criminally responsible for allowing her daughter to starve to death in 2009 after watering down the baby's formula.

The child's father, Chauncey Gardner, continues to face similar charges, and a trial will be held at a later date.

The parents told detectives they didn't know they were giving the baby an improper ratio of powdered formula to water, according to investigative reports.

Logan told detectives she did notice Chauntasia was losing weight, but didn't take the baby to the hospital because she feared authorities would take away her five other children.

Chauntasia was supposed to weigh about 14 pounds, but an autopsy listed her weight at 6 pounds, according to court testimony.

Assistant State Attorney Paul Wallace argued Logan was guilty of first-degree murder because her actions amounted to aggravated child abuse.

Under Florida law, someone can be charged with "felony murder" if he or she commits certain felonies, including aggravated child abuse, and another person dies.

The prosecutor also argued Logan was guilty of aggravated manslaughter of a child, saying her conduct showed a "reckless disregard of human life."

The defense told jurors that Logan's actions didn't rise to the legal definition of "knowing" or "willful" abuse.

Her lawyer argued Logan has mild mental retardation and didn't realize how severe the child's condition was becoming. She decided to wait until a scheduled doctor's appointment for the baby and not go to the hospital.

"In her perception, she had time to wait for the doctor," Fisher told jurors during closing arguments.

The baby was found dead the morning of Nov. 1, 2009, at her family's home on Sunshine Drive in Lakeland. Her doctor's appointment would have been the next day.

Jury Finds Mom Guilty of Murder for Starving Child

Lakeland Woman Faces Life in Prison in Death of Her 5-Month-Old

By Jason Geary - TheLedger.com

June 21, 2012

Jurors deliberated seven hours Thursday and decided a Lakeland woman was guilty of starving her infant daughter to death.

Tivasha Logan, 27, clutched a pink Bible and wept as the decision was announced in the quiet courtroom.

She sobbed as jurors took turns verifying that each had reached the same conclusion: She was guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated manslaughter of a child.

To reach their decision, jurors began discussing the case about 1:40 p.m. and continued until 8:30 p.m.

Logan faces life in prison. A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Prosecutors argued Logan was criminally responsible for allowing her 5-month-old daughter, Chauntasia Gardner, to starve to death in 2009.

Logan and the baby's father, Chauncey Gardner, had been watering down the baby's formula, and the child wasn't getting sufficient nutrition to survive.

Each parent told detectives they didn't know they were giving the baby an improper ratio of powdered formula to water, according to investigative reports. Her attorney said she had a mental disability.

Chauncey Gardner, 29, faces first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and other charges but has not yet gone to trial. He is being held without bail in the Polk County Jail.

During Thursday's closing arguments in Logan's trial, Assistant State Attorney Paul Wallace told jurors Chauntasia was supposed to weigh about 14 pounds. An autopsy listed her weight at 6 pounds.

On a large television, jurors saw photographs of the baby while she was alive.

During the first few months of her short life, her cheeks were round, and she was swaddled in fuzzy baby clothing and blankets. Jurors could compare those images to autopsy photos taken of her emaciated corpse.

Wallace said the child's dramatic fluctuation in weight didn't happen overnight.

"It's a very slow process in losing that weight," he said.

Wallace argued Logan was guilty of first-degree murder because her actions amounted to aggravated child abuse.

Under Florida law, someone can be charged with "felony murder" if he or she commits certain felonies, including aggravated child abuse, and another person dies.

The prosecutor also argued Logan was guilty of aggravated manslaughter of a child, saying her conduct showed a "reckless disregard of human life."

Chauntasia's grandmother, Vonda Stewart, told detectives the baby looked skinny about two weeks before her death, and she urged Logan to take the child to a doctor.

Stewart told detectives that Logan said her the baby weighed 8 pounds at a recent doctor visit.

When confronted by detectives, Logan said she lied to Stewart. Logan told detectives she didn't take her baby to the hospital because she feared authorities would take away her five other children.

Instead, she decided to risk waiting until a scheduled pediatrician appointment, rather than going to an emergency room, Wallace said.

"Chauntasia didn't make it that long," he said.

The baby was found dead on the morning of Nov. 1, 2009, at her family's home on Sunshine Drive in Lakeland. Her doctor's appointment would have been the next day.

Logan's lawyer, Stephen Fisher, said his client never intended to harm her child, and her conduct was misguided but not criminal.

He argued Logan's actions didn't rise to the legal threshold of "knowing" or "willful" abuse and described Logan as a woman with mild mental retardation and the reading level of a fourth-grader.

Fisher told jurors Logan didn't understand her child was "deathly ill," and he suggested Logan might also have been living in denial about how bad the situation had become.

"She made the (doctor's) appointment because she recognized something was wrong with the child," he said.

However, Logan didn't realize that her child was dying, he said.

"In her perception, she had time to wait for the doctor," Fisher said.

Prosecution Rests Case Against Lakeland Woman in Starved-Baby Case

By Jason Geary - TheLedger.com

June 19, 2012

A Lakeland woman accused of starving her infant daughter to death told detectives she didn't take her baby to the hospital because she feared her children would be taken away.

Tivasha Logan is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter of a child in the death of her 5-month-old daughter, Chauntasia Gardner.

Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday against Logan, who could receive life imprisonment if convicted as charged.

They accuse her of not providing sufficient food to Chauntasia and giving her watered-down infant formula.

The baby was found dead on the morning of Nov. 1, 2009, at her family's home on Sunshine Drive in Lakeland.

Jurors listened to two recorded statements of Logan, 27, talking to detectives that day.

In one interview, Logan said she didn't notice her daughter was losing weight until days before her death.

Detectives pressed Logan in a second interview to explain why the girl's grandmother, Vonda Stewart, recalled the baby looking skinny about two weeks earlier and urging Logan to take the child to a doctor.

Logan told detectives she lied about not noticing the child's weight loss until days before her death. She also told detectives she lied to Stewart that the baby weighed 8 pounds at a recent doctor visit.

An autopsy listed the baby's weight at 6 pounds. Photographs showed her body was so withered that her spine, ribs and jaw bones were easily visible.

Logan's lawyer, Stephen Fisher, told jurors during last week's opening statements that his client didn't have the intellectual ability to care for Chauntasia.

The baby was born prematurely, was experiencing difficulty feeding and possibly had brain damage, he said.

A mental health expert is likely to testify today about Logan's limited intellectual ability. Closing arguments are expected to take place Thursday, and the jury will begin deliberations.

Logan said she was concerned about Chauntasia's weight loss but didn't take her to the hospital because she was scared authorities might take away her other five children.

Instead, she opted to wait until a scheduled appointment with a pediatrician, but the baby died about a day before that was to take place.

Logan said she originally didn't tell detectives the truth about noticing the child's weight loss because she didn't want to go to jail.

"Someone is gonna expect that I did something wrong to her," Logan said in a transcript of the recording. "Me and my boyfriend was the last ones with her."

Logan's boyfriend, Chauncey Gardner, faces the same charges. His trial will be held at a later date.

Logan decided Tuesday not to take the witness stand and testify at her trial.

Mother Says She Missed Signs before Baby Starved to Death

By Jason Geary - TheLedger.com

January 1, 2010

Prosecutors released documents this week in the case of a Lakeland couple accused of starving their 5-month-old daughter.

A grand jury has indicted Tivasha Logan, 25, and Chauncey Gardner, 27, on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child and aggravated child abuse.

Both are being held in the Polk County Jail without bond.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office has accused the couple of feeding their daughter, Chauntasia Gardner, so little that she died.

The girl was born premature May 11, and weighed 2 pounds, 11 ounces.

She left the hospital in July weighing 7 pounds, 8 ounces.

An autopsy later listed her weight to be 6 pounds.

Investigative reports state the girl's body was so emaciated that her spine, ribs and jaw bones were easily visible, and she had sunken eyes.

In the recently released reports, detectives pressed Logan to explain whether she noticed her child was "deathly skinny."

Logan insisted in a transcript of that interview that she didn't notice her daughter's facial bones were showing until the morning that they called 911 for help.

"She just looked like she was losing weight," Logan said.

Initially, Logan said her worries about her daughter's weight didn't start until days before her daughter's death.

But she later said that she began to worry about two weeks prior.

Logan told detectives that she was concerned her baby was losing weight.

However, she spoke about being worried that the Florida Department of Children and Families might take away her other five children if she brought the baby to the hospital.

Rather than go to the emergency room, she said, she decided to wait until a scheduled doctor's appointment Nov. 2.

But Chauntasia Gardner didn't make it.

The girl died Nov. 1 at the couple's home on Sunshine Drive in Lakeland.

Detectives focused some of their questions to Logan and Gardner about the ratio of formula to water that they were using to feed the girl.

The couple said they mixed about half an ounce of formula with 1 1/2 to 2 ounces of water.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office has said this was about one-third the recommended amount of formula for each feeding.

Chauncey Gardner told detectives in his interview that he looked for mixing directions on the formula's can "and I didn't see any or I overlooked so I was kind of hoping I had it right."

Gardner said he noticed his daughter was getting lighter about a week before her death.

Logan told detectives that she woke up Nov. 1 to find her daughter's eyes open, but she wasn't breathing.

She called out for Gardner, and he called 911.

She took over the phone so he could try to revive the girl.

A transcript of a 911 telephone call describes a dispatcher instructing Logan on how to tell Gardner to perform CPR on their daughter.

Judge: No Bail for Woman in Baby's Starving Death

Tivasha Evan Logan wants out so she can take care of her other children.

By Suzie Schottelkotte - TheLedger.com

December 15, 2010

A 26-year-old woman charged with starving her infant to death last year wants out of jail so she can care of her other five young children.

But Circuit Judge Michael Hunter ruled Wednesday that Tivasha Evan Logan, who is facing first-degree murder charges, isn't going anywhere. After a day of testimony, Hunter said prosecutors have ample evidence to hold Logan without bond.

"They say a picture is worth 1,000 words," he said. "Well, these pictures are worth 10,000 words."

Hunter was referring to photographs taken by Dr. Stephen Nelson, chief medical examiner for the Bartow-based 10th Judicial Circuit, before conducting an autopsy on 5-month-old Chauntasia Gardner.

Nelson testified Wednesday the baby barely weighed 6 pounds when she died, which is 13 percent less than she weighed when she was released from the hospital July 30 following her birth. She weighed only 2 pounds, 11 ounces when she was born prematurely on May 11, and remained in the hospital until her weight climbed to nearly 7 pounds.

In Nelson's photographs, Chauntasia's skin was wrinkled and dry from dehydration, he said. Her eyes were sunken and her ribs protruding. "Essentially, she looks like a child from Biafra," Nelson said.

Hunter reiterated that thought in his oral ruling.

"She looks like a person out of Africa or a concentration camp," he said. "I can't comprehend how any reasonable, intelligent person cannot look at this child, or a child that looked like this one did, and not see that the child is starving to death."

Nelson said he found nearly nothing in the baby's digestive system, suggesting she hadn't eaten anything substantial for some time before she was found dead about 5:30 a.m. on Nov. 1, 2009.

Detectives said Logan told them she'd noticed her daughter was losing weight about two weeks before the child died, but she feared she would go to jail or lose her other children if she took the baby to a doctor.

Logan and the baby's father, Chauncey Gardner, 28, both are charged with first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child and aggravated child abuse. Gardner remains in custody without bond.

Lakeland baby starves

By Jessica Vander Velde - TampaBay.com

November 4, 2009

LAKELAND — The pantry and refrigerator were full of juice, pasta, snacks and canned food — plenty to fill the bellies of the two adults and five children who lived in the house on Sunshine Drive.

But not enough for the baby.

Only 2 ounces of formula were found Monday in the home where paramedics pronounced an emaciated 5-month-old girl dead. She weighed just 6 pounds.

Chauntasia Gardner starved to death in a house with more beer than infant formula, investigators said, and the Polk County Sheriff's Office blames the parents. Tivasha E. Logan, 25, and her boyfriend, Chauncey Gardner, 27, were charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.

"It is mind-boggling," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. "I've done this job my entire adult life, and I've seen a lot of violence against children and babies, but I can't ever remember seeing one starve to death. This child was tortured for days on end until she finally died from starvation."

This wasn't a famine-plagued region. There was no water shortage or crop failure. This was Lakeland.

The family lived a mile from the nearest grocery store and in walking distance of two churches. Logan had Medicaid and received Social Security Income and food stamps. She also participated in the county's Women, Infants & Children program, which provides some formula.

Investigators even found a $674 Social Security check that Logan received on Nov. 1 specifically for the infant.

Still, Logan watered down the formula at a 3-1 ratio, not 1-1 as the label instructed, the arrest report states. She told deputies that she never read the label; she said Gardner told her 3-1 was correct.

"It's absolutely appalling," Polk County Commissioner Ed Smith said. "It's unbelievable that anybody would starve a child to death. Your own flesh and blood; it's just unbelievable."

Paramedics went to the house at 2710 Sunshine Drive N in response to a call about a child who was not breathing. When deputies arrived, she was laying on the floor, her ribs and spine visible, her eyes sunken and her skin loose and wrinkled.

Judd said the parents were in denial and couldn't see what they had done wrong. They haven't offered an explanation, he said.

Logan and Gardner never took Chauntasia to the doctor, the arrest report said. The baby was born prematurely on May 11 but released on July 29 at a healthy weight of 7 pounds and 8 ounces.

Three months later, she didn't weigh even that much.

When told the baby's weight, a Tampa pediatrician gasped.

"Oh, my God, 6 pounds?" said Dr. Christina Paulson. "Six pounds would be way, way, way below the third percentile," she said as she looked at a chart. "It's not even on the curve. … If that baby came into the office, we'd have sent them to the hospital."

The average weight for a 5-month-old is about 14 pounds, she said.

Logan told detectives that she tried several times to get an appointment with a doctor but couldn't because none would accept her Medicaid.

However, her mother, Vonda Stewart, told investigators that she confronted Logan two weeks ago and urged her to take the baby to the doctor because of weight loss. Logan told her mom that she had gone to a doctor and that Chauntasia weighed 8 pounds.

When a detective confronted Logan with that statement, she said she had lied to get her mother off her back, Judd said. She then admitted she had noticed her baby losing a lot of weight about two weeks ago, but feared she would get in trouble if she took her to the hospital, the arrest report states. She thought the staff would notify the Department of Children and Families.

Paulson said doctors are required to report suspected abuse and neglect, but DCF spokeswoman Carrie Hoeppner said the department doesn't immediately remove children in every circumstance. First, it tries to provide support.

"Your child's medical needs, their safety, always comes first," she said. "If there's any way we can support a family and not remove the child, we will."

The infant never made it to the Tuesday doctor's appointment that Logan told detectives she had made.

Hoeppner said that Logan and Gardner have been investigated four times in the past, between 2000 and 2007. Sometimes there were indicators of inadequate supervision, and other times there weren't, Hoeppner said, but there was never enough to warrant removing the children from the home.

For now, the five children are with a relative, and the DCF is working to keep them together, she said.

Three of the children — ages 4, 3 and 2 — belong to both Gardner and Logan, and Logan's two additional children — ages 10 and 6 — also lived with them. Gardner told deputies that he has fathered 10 children.

Gardner and Logan have each previously been convicted of several crimes. Gardner's convictions include possession of cocaine and driving under the influence, and Logan's include driving under the influence and resisting arrest.

They were held without bail.

Parents Arrested in Death of 5-month-old

Polk County Sheriff's Office

November 3, 2009

At approximately 5:30 pm, on Monday, November 2, 2009, Polk County Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested 25-year-old Tivasha Logan, and her boyfriend, 27-year-old Chauncey Gardner, 2710 Sunshine Drive North, Lakeland, charging them with Felony Murder (Willful Kill-Murder While Engaged in Certain Felony) and Aggravated Child Abuse in the death of their baby daughter, 5-month-old Chauntasia Gardner. Detectives believe the baby was starved to death.

Deputies responded to the residence at 6:02 a.m., on Sunday, November 1, 2009, after receiving a call for assistance regarding a 5-month-old baby who wasn’t breathing. Emergency Medical Services had also been contacted and were present when deputies arrived – EMS pronounced the baby dead at 6:11 a.m.

Gardner and Logan have 3 other children in common and who live with their parents – a 4-year-old boy and two girls, ages 3 years and 2 years. Logan has two additional children who also reside at the Sunshine Drive residence - a 10-year-old boy, and a 6-year-old girl.

Detectives described seeing the refrigerator and cupboards with food and drinks, however only a single partially filled can of baby formula was found in the home.

When asked about her feeding, the parents told deputies the baby was receiving 2 ounces of formula every 3 to 3 ½ hours. The directions on the formula can found in the residence recommended the formula be mixed with water in equal parts. Gardner and Logan told detectives they mixed 1 ½ ounces of water with a ½ ounce of formula. According to their statements, the baby was receiving 1/3 of the recommended amount of formula at each feeding.

The baby was born at Lakeland Regional Medical Center on May 11, 2009; she was premature and her birth weight was approximately 2 pounds and 11 ounces. She remained at LRMC until July 29, 2009. At that time, she was approximately 2 months old, and weighed 7 pounds and 8 ounces. At the time of autopsy, approximately 3 months after she was discharged, and 5-months old, she weighed 6 pounds. The baby has not been seen by a physician since being discharged from the hospital.

Gardner and Logan are being held with no bond.