A 36-year-old mother received a 12-month community custody sentence for second-degree manslaughter that caused the death of her 3-year-old daughter in 2022 when she left fentanyl out in her Kent apartment that the girl ingested.

King County Superior Court Judge Matthew Lapin agreed with the defense attorney’s recommendation of community custody, rather than the 27-month prison sentence recommended by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, according to court documents.

Carolyn D. Franklin pleaded guilty in June after prosecutors reduced the original charge of first-degree manslaughter and dropped a reckless endangerment charge. Lapin also dismissed a domestic violence charge during an Aug. 15 sentencing hearing at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

Lapin agreed with defense attorney Kimberly Ann La Fronz to follow a state parenting sentencing alternative approved by the Legislature that favors, for nonviolent offenses, keeping parents with their children rather than serving time in prison. Franklin has two other children.

“Research shows children of incarcerated parents are significantly more likely to end up in the criminal justice system themselves,” according to the state Department of Corrections (DOC) website about the alternative sentence. “The focus of the legislation is the child(ren), family, and the importance of maintaining the family bond so that participants under DOC jurisdiction can be productive contributors in their families and communities.”

In addition to community custody, the judge ordered the following conditions for Franklin to follow, including submit to urinalysis once a week until first court review hearing Oct. 8; shall not use illegal controlled substances; shall not use alcohol; participate in chemical dependency treatment; and report to a community state Department of Corrections officer.

With a zero offender score due to no previous criminal history, Franklin’s statewide sentencing range for second-degree manslaughter was 21 to 27 months, according to court documents. Prosecutors wanted the high end of 27 months and a substance use evaluation and 18 months of community custody with the state Department of Corrections after her release.

“Ka’Myah is a victim in every sense of the word; she was young and she was vulnerable and she was not kept safe the way she should have been by her mother,” according to the defense sentencing recommendation court document. “Ka’Myah’s life has been irrevocably cut short at such a young age. Nothing this court is able to do in a sentencing hearing can change that, but a Parenting Sentencing Alternative can allow Ms. Franklin to remain united with her surviving children for her sake and for theirs.”

Kent Police arrested Franklin after responding to a 911 call from Franklin on Nov. 4, 2022, that she was performing CPR on her daughter, who was unconscious and unresponsive in a bedroom. The girl died at the scene. Charges were filed against Franklin on Oct. 30, 2023. She entered a guilty plea June 5, 2025. She was booked into jail Nov. 29, 2023, and released to electronic home detention on Jan. 29, 2024.

“Ms. Franklin understands the depth of this tragedy, and has felt it from the moment she discovered that Ka’Myah was cold to the touch and called 911,” according to the defense statement. “Body-worn video from this case shows Ms. Franklin desperately performing CPR on Ka’Myah and subsequently going through grief and shock as police and paramedics take over resuscitation, pronounce Ka’Myah deceased, and begin a criminal investigation. Ms. Franklin’s love for her daughter was and is apparent.

“Ka’Myah’s pictures hang on the walls of Ms. Franklin and her family’s new apartment. (Her older two children) speak lovingly of their baby sister who passed away, in words carefully given to them by parents having to explain an unimaginable situation to young children. And Ms. Franklin herself speaks lovingly about Ka’Myah, even though her love for Ka’Myah is now shadowed in many ways by the pain of losing her.”

Jamel L. Prater, the father of the girl, also was at the Kent apartment on Nov. 4, 2022. Prosecutors charged Prater in 2022 with reckless endangerment domestic violence. A jury, however, found Prater not guilty on Nov. 15, 2024, according to court documents.

“The defense stresses Ms. Franklin’s love for Ka’Myah to distinguish this case from others, where children are treated as inconvenient or dispensable or otherwise unimportant, and are subject to abuse or neglect as a result of that attitude,” according to the court statement. “Ms. Franklin did her best at the time to care for Ka’Myah and her siblings, sometimes working multiple jobs to make ends meet, always reassuring the kids she loved them, and taking the children to the park or to Chuck E. Cheese to give them fond childhood memories. But dependency records, the events of this case, and Ms. Franklin’s own admissions show that Ms. Franklin’s best efforts at the time and her love for Ka’Myah were not enough to prevent the tragedy of Ka’Myah’s death.”

Franklin enrolled in the Hope Place program at the Union Gospel Mission after her release from jail to electronic home detention in January 2024, according to court documents. The recovery program takes about a year to complete and includes over 30 hours of programming per week, not only substance use disorder treatment but also mental health treatment, trauma classes and parenting classes. Franklin, according to court documents, excelled in the program, completing it in about six months without a single positive urinalysis during her time at Union Gospel Mission.

The incident

Franklin said she woke up at about 10 a.m. Nov. 4, 2022. Her daughter had not woken up, so she checked on her about 1 p.m. and noticed her body temperature was cold so she asked Prater, the father of the girl, to call 911 and began performing CPR.

A detective arrived at the apartment to begin an investigation and was informed by a sergeant that state Child Protective Services had taken the children into protective custody in 2019 for drug use by Franklin. The detective noticed a foul stench of mold, rotting food, stale urine and animal feces in the apartment. A child toilet in the living room was filled with dark brown urine. A cat litter box in the kitchen had not been cleaned in many days. Cockroaches were moving through dishes piled up in the sink.

Detectives interviewed Franklin who said she previously was a habitual user of heroin and meth, but hadn’t used any controlled substances in over a year. Prater told detectives he used marijuana and drinks alcohol, but is not a controlled substance user. He said he was playing video games with a headset on from morning until Franklin frantically asked him to call 911 because the 3-year-old girl was unresponsive.

Detectives searched the apartment and found drug paraphernalia including used burnt aluminum foil, smoking devices referred to as “tooters,” suspected fentanyl pills and various other pills that later tested positive for meth and ecstasy.

During a second interview with detectives, Franklin was told they had found fentanyl pills and other drug paraphernalia. Franklin admitted to recently relapsing to her addiction and using about four fentanyl pills per week. She said she uses foil and a “tooter” to smoke the pills. She said she last used at about 11 that morning.

The 3-year-old girl died from acute fentanyl intoxication, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office. A total of 35 nanograms per milliliter of fentanyl was found in the girl’s blood sample, according to the toxicology report. The report noted that in fatalities from fentanyl, blood concentrations are variable and have been reported as low as 3 nanograms per milliliter.

Detectives arrested Franklin and Prater based on the living conditions inside the apartment, the amount of drug paraphernalia inside and readily available to the children and acute fentanyl intoxication causing the death of the 3-year-old girl.