The little girl wasn’t breathing when first responders found her lying on the floor of a messy basement bedroom in Maplewood in the winter of 2015.
Her 17-month-old body was covered in dark bruises and she had a broken rib, a lacerated liver and a swollen head. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
More than two years later, Genesis Xiong’s mother, Lia Pearson, was sentenced Thursday in Ramsey County District Court to nearly five years in prison for her culpability in her child’s death.
While the little girl wasn’t directly under the 39-year-old Farmington mother’s care when she died, Pearson saw signs that her daughter was in distress and should have intervened to keep her safe, prosecutors argued during her court trial.
District Judge Leonardo Castro found Pearson guilty of manslaughter and child endangerment in her daughter’s death last November.
He sentenced her Thursday to the maximum time allowed under state statute.
Pearon’s boyfriend, Leb Mike Meak, 36, was convicted in September of 2015 of unintentional second-degree murder for fatally beating the child. He received a 25-year prison sentence in April 2016 after pleading guilty to the crime.”
“I frankly can’t think of a greater tragedy than the death of a child,” Castro said during the Thursday hearing, which was attended by several of Genesis’ relatives. They wiped away tears during the proceeding.
“While you didn’t strike the deadly blow, in the hearts of many … you are equally responsible for the death … of that little girl,” Castro continued. “You were supposed to be her mother. You were supposed to love her more than you loved yourself… But you did not.”
Blinded by her own relationship needs, Castro said, Pearson knowingly allowed her daughter to stay with a man who was repeatedly beating the child, he said.
Pearson cried as she talked of the pain she’s lived with since her daughter’s death. Her attorney asked that the judge grant her probation instead of prison time so that she might continue on with volunteer work she’s involved in aimed at helping victims of violence.
She also lost her parental rights over her remaining three children following Genesis’ death.
“I have to live with (her death) for the rest of my life,” she said in court. “All I can do is think about what happened. … That is my punishment every day, every night, every minute of the hour. … I regret loving and trusting Leb Mike Meak. … If I could bring her back I would.”
Meak had been caring for Genesis during the month prior to her death as Pearson commuted between her Farmington home and job in Burnsville.
Police were called to his house on the 2500 block of Barclay Street at 11 a.m. Feb, 12, 2015, on a report of a baby not breathing.
Meak told officers at the time that the child had hit her head on a space heater the night before and on weights a week earlier. He also said that he gave her “a little spanking” every time he changed her diaper, according to the criminal complaint.
He admitted in court nearly six months later to squeezing the child around the chest with both hands, hitting her in the abdomen and throwing her.
He was sentenced in April 2016 to 25 years in prison.
During her trial, prosecutors talked of the warning Pearson had received from Meak’s two sons, who were living with him at the time of the girl’s death. They said they told her that they heard their father hitting the girl.
Pearson said in an interview with the Pioneer Press that she thought the boys were jealous and wanted Genesis to leave, so she didn’t believe them.
Prosecutors further argued that Pearson should have noticed injuries that appeared on her daughter’s body throughout Meak’s care of her, including a head injury that caused noticeable swelling and blackened her eyes.
Genesis’s aunt, Mala Vue, cried as she read a statement in court about the grief her family feels since losing Genesis. She described sleepless nights, lack of appetite and difficulties with memories and trusting people since her murder.
“We are haunted by repeated thoughts of what we could have done to keep her safe,” Mala Vue said. “She will never get to go to preschool … or go to college. … Or have her father walk her down the aisle. … Lia took this away from us by doing absolutely nothing (to protect Genesis.)
She went on to say that Pearson only seemed to be concerned about the impact this tragedy has had on herself. She added that seeing the images of the injuries her tiny niece endured during Pearson’s trial was “horrific.”
“We love and miss Gena so much,” she said. “Gena should still be here.”