REALITY TV
TV
MOVIES
MUSIC
CELEBRITY
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use Accuracy & Fairness Corrections & Clarifications Ethics Code Your Ad Choices
© MEAWW All rights reserved
MEAWW.COM / NEWS / CRIME & JUSTICE

Brooke Skylar Richardson: Cheerleader who buried her baby in backyard released from probation, wants to feel 'normal'

The former Ohio cheerleader had finished 14 months of a three-year probation after she was convicted in September last year
UPDATED NOV 18, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

A cheerleader Brooke Skylar Richardson who had buried her stillborn baby in the backyard has been released from probation two years early, according to reports. Richardson who is now 20 wants to "feel normal" as she was released on Tuesday, November 17, from community control in Ohio by a Warren County judge as per Dayton Daily News. She had finished 14 months of a three-year probation after she was convicted in September last year for the abuse of a corpse in the death of her baby daughter. 

Richardson had buried her stillborn child in a shallow grave in her backyard as her parents and brother were asleep in May 2017. At the time of the incident, Richardson had been 18 years old. She was cleared of killing her baby in September 2019 and had been acquitted on charges of aggravated murder, involuntary manslaughter and child endangering.

On Tuesday, November 17, she spoke at her court hearing and explained that she had been going through mental health treatment and had expressed her remorse and guilt. She shared, "I am sorry for everything I have put everyone through. I know that doesn’t seem like a lot at all. I am very sorry and I hurt a lot. I just want to show that I can be a normal person again, that’s all."

It was just last month that Richardson's attorney Charles M Rittgers had filed a motion to try and have her sentence reduced. The motion had stated, "She has completed two semesters of college, has a cumulative GPA of over 3.8 and currently has a GPA of 4.0 for most recent semester. In addition to school, she has also worked approximately 10 hours per week."

"She sought alternative employment, but was rejected each time due to the fact she is on probation," the motion continued. 

The grandmother of Richardson's baby Tracy Johnson had been in court as well and had urged the judge not to terminate the probation. Johnson had told the judge, "You had the option of giving her up to six months in prison with time served ... I don’t think three years probation is too much to ask."

Warren County Judge Donald Oda II shared that there is a perception and a reality to the case and the reality is that Richardson had been convicted of a low-level felony. Oda had told her, "There is no reason for me to invest the time and resources of my probation department in supervising you."

The judge also shared that the probation is not punishment but "it is an opportunity to demonstrate why the stated prison term of 12 months in prison should not be imposed." Oda had concluded, "There is nothing in the three years I have been supervising you Ms. Richardson that leads me to believe you do not follow the rules or are going to commit any crimes in the future."

We had earlier reported that Richardson, who had been struggling with severe eating disorders for years had found out she had become pregnant and had birthed her baby in secret, on her prom night. The teen had given birth alone in her family home in Carlisle, Ohio in the bathroom, in the incident that had occurred in May 2017. She had said that the baby had been stillborn, to an OB-GYN during an appointment later.

Last month, her family had held a memorial for Annabelle in a plot far away from their hometown. Richardson had told Cosmo that she is a grieving mother who visits her daughter's memorial 'every week'. 

POPULAR ON MEAWW
MORE ON MEAWW