MANCHESTER, NH – The father of an 18-month-old child, who died because of his neglect, was sentenced Thursday to 1½ to 5 years in the New Hampshire State Prison.
Christian Cummings, 23, of 364 Colby Road, Weare, was convicted of negligent homicide in the death of his daughter, Kamryn, after a trial last year in Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District. The toddler was infested with lice when she was found dead in her home on Valentine’s Day 2019. An autopsy determined she died from an untreated urinary tract infection.
He also was found guilty of reckless conduct and endangering the welfare of a child.
Judge David A. Anderson sentenced Cummings to 1½ to 5 years on the negligent homicide charge, and gave him two suspended sentences on the two remaining, misdemeanor offenses. The suspended sentences will be in effect for five years after he is released from prison. Cummings also received pre-trial credit of 144 days.
Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Patrick Ives asked the court to impose a minimum sentence of 5½ years. He cited two other cases in support of a lengthier sentence. In 2017, James Grenier was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison on reckless conduct, endangering the welfare of a child, two counts, and criminal restraint in connection with the squalid conditions in which his two children were living. Prosecutors said the Quirin Street apartment where they lived had human and dog feces piled throughout and reeked of urine. When an officer went to check on the children, he found the 2-year-old naked and covered in feces and her 4-year-old brother, naked as well, under a filthy blanket and harnessed to a bed. Their mother, Samantha Grenier, also was sentenced to 15 to 30 years on the same charges.
The other case he cited was that of Joshua Garvey, who in 2019 was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison, with five years suspended if he completes a specific self-help program, for negligent homicide in the death of his 20-month-old son, Tayden. The child died in May 2018 after ingesting cocaine in their apartment.
Christen Gelinas, the child’s mother, was charged with drug-related offenses. Police said the couple operated a drug house. She was sentenced to 8½ to 17 years in prison.
Defense Attorney Theodore M. Lothstein asked the judge to sentence Cummings to 12 months in jail on the negligent homicide charge, with an opportunity to suspend the remaining minimum balance upon admission into a residential substance abuse treatment program.
Anderson said he thought long and hard about what sentence to impose. “It’s clear you need to turn things around,” he told Cummings. He said it was his hope that Cummings would do that in prison by taking advantage of programs offered there.
The judge also recommended that he receive alcohol and drug treatment.
Lothstein, in seeking a lesser sentence, spoke of the difficult childhood Cummings experienced and how she struggled with addiction after breaking his leg in two places and being prescribed opiates.
In his sentencing memorandum, Lothstein said Cummings’ mother was either 16 or just turned 17 when Cummings was conceived. She was neglectful and abusive, he said. He ultimately lived with his father, who had a series of girlfriends and who was jailed for domestic violence charges. Ultimately, his grandparents took custody of him when he was 8 years old.
The family, however, was dysfunctional, according to the court document. Lothstein wrote that a record from Riverbend in 2013 said the family had a history of poor communication, verbal/physical aggression towards each other, and minimal ability to make changes within their system despite lots of services and interventions. In July 2013, after about six years of attempting family therapy with Cummings and his family members, Riverbend sent a letter to the family that it was closing the case. The letter explained that Cummings had an independent provider for therapy and medicine, “and the family had made little or no progress in family therapy.”
Cummings’ life took a turn for the better when his girlfriend, Mikayla Cochran, 23, told him she was pregnant. He cut back on alcohol and completely eliminated opiates. After Kamryn was born, he worked various jobs, including at McDonalds, a carpet cleaning company and various under-the-table jobs and odd jobs.
During that time, he began rebuilding his relationship with his father who lived in Manchester. On July 9, 2018, James Cummings, then 45, killed himself with a gunshot to the head. “Unfortunately, when James Cummings put an end to his own suffering, Christian’s suffering profoundly intensified,” Lothstein wrote. Cummings went into a downward spiral of feelings of loss, sadness and hopelessness.
His daughter died about eight months later.
Lothstein said the case was a heartbreaking circle of tragedy. Cummings’ father and mother failed to nurture him and teach him how to live, care for himself and how to be a loving and caring parent and how to take care of a young child.
Cummings became a parent at a young age before he and the child’s mother were emotionally or financially ready for that responsibility.
“They became parents, almost certainly before either had learned how to properly take care of themselves,” he wrote.
He said family members told him that Christian, Mikayla and their baby girl were “inseparable. But when Cumming’s father took his own life, Cummings went into an emotional tailspin that Cummings acknowledges contributed to what happened.
As for the sentence, Lothstein said it was a humane sentence.
“This was tragic for everybody,” he said. “It’s Christian’s daughter. He will be punished for that for the rest of his life.”
