Savannah C Masters: Woman, 25, pleads guilty to involvement in 22-month-old daughter's death
KNOX COUNTY, TENNESSEE: A Howard woman accused of being involved in the 2022 death of her 22-month-old child has pleaded guilty. 25-year-old Savannah C Masters pleaded guilty to one count of permitting child abuse, a first-degree felony, in Knox County Common Pleas Court. Masters admitted that she allowed her boyfriend, Danial L Shahan, to beat her daughter at his Howard residence on January 31, 2022, and that she waited around 12 hours to take the child to the hospital.
The little girl, Emily Pruitt, died three days after being admitted to Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus. She had been declared brain-dead. Masters is set to be sentenced on May 18. She faces 16 1/2 years in prison.
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'We wanted her to do as many years as possible'
"We wanted her not to be able to appeal, and we wanted her to do as many years consecutively as possible, and that’s how we came up with that number," said Knox County Assistant Prosecutor Christine Williams, referencing the joint recommendation to give Masters eight years in prison. Masters had originally been charged with permitting child abuse, the same charge she pleaded guilty to on Wednesday, April 19. "We knew the highest number she was looking at would probably be 11 (years in prison), and we weren’t interested in taking it to the trail stage," Williams continued. "We were satisfied knowing we could get a straight eight years."
What happened to Danial L Shahan?
Shahan, 29, was sentenced to 19 years in prison back in March for his role in Pruitt's death. He pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony; and one count of endangering children, a second-degree felony, according to Knox Pages. Originally, Shahan had been charged with murder, an unclassified felony, and endangering children, and would have faced 15 years to life in prison had he been convicted. It would have also allowed him the opportunity to get out on parole after 15 years, Williams said her office was not willing to take her risk.
Following a deal and the updated charges, it was determined that Shahan would spend more than 15 years in prison and would be released from prison after a set period of time. "He will do every day of that 19 years without the possibility of parole, and they have also agreed to waive any kind of appeal," Williams told Knox Pages in February. "If we would have went into the realm of an unclassified felony, he would have the chance of (achieving) parole earlier than 19 years, and we did not want him to be given that opportunity."
"That's why our office decided to get a hard number that could not be broken down for his good behavior or whatever you have to do to get out of prison early. We felt 19 years was a good number to assure us that (he’ll be in prison) for a pretty long time," Williams added.