Mom who admitted smothering two-month-old baby girl to death while high on meth WALKS FREE as judge says 'you're not innocent, but you're not guilty' after prosecutors failed to prove intent to kill

An Indianapolis mother has been found not guilty of neglectfully smothering her child to death - as a judge shockingly said he would have found her guilty of involuntary manslaughter or reckless homicide. 

Dacia Lacey, 32, walked free after a judge ruled that prosecutors brought inappropriate charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, contending they didn't prove she killed her two-month-old daughter Alona on purpose. 

The mother admitted to police that she smothered the infant with couch cushions while she was high on methamphetamines so she could 'get some sleep' in August 2022. 

She wept in court this week as Judge Mark Stoner said he was freeing her 'reluctantly', insisting she was 'not innocent', but also 'not guilty of what the state has charged you with.' 

The case was a bench trial, meaning it was only decided by a single judge instead of a jury.

Dacia Lacey, 32, walked free after a judge ruled that prosecutors brought inappropriate charges over the suffocation death of her baby daughter 

Judge Mark Stoner said he was finding her not guilty 'reluctantly', insisting she was 'not innocent', but also 'not guilty of what the state has charged you with' 

When Lacey was initially questioned over her daughter's death, she told officers that it was a freak accident caused by her children playing with the baby on a couch. 

However, five months later, she admitted to smothering her child with couch cushions because she wouldn't stop crying when she faced another interrogation. 

At her trial, the court heard a recording of the 911 call she made after her the death, where she was heard screaming and crying at a dispatcher.

'Oh my god! Oh my God! My baby is dead! My newborn baby is dead!' she said in the recording. 

By the time emergency services arrived at her home, the infant was already dead, reports WTHR. A toxicology report found the mother had meth in her system at the time. 

An autopsy failed to rule over a cause of death, and was unable to determine if it was caused by a homicide or trauma.  

A video was also played to the court showing how Lacey showed investigators with a baby doll how she put the baby in a rocking swing with a bottle, before she went to sleep. 

However, her claims at the time - before she confessed - were countered by testimony from her five-year-old daughter, who recalled witnessing the death of her newborn sister.

She testified: 'Mom was mad, hit the baby with a pillow and put the pillow on her face.' 

But Judge Stoner later said that the child's testimony couldn't be relied upon in court, because she 'is only capable of hearing emotions, repeating some things without understanding things.' 

The court also heard testimony from the fiancé of Lacey's father, who took care of the little girl after the two-month-old's death.

The mother admitted to police that she smothered the infant with couch cushions while she was high on methamphetamines so she could 'get some sleep' in August 2022 

She recalled the five-year-old telling her the same story, testifying: 'She said my mommy got really mad at her because she wouldn't stop crying.'

'And she held a pillow on her face and hit her with it. And I'm like, 'What? Like, what did you just say?' 

Armstrong recorded the child telling her the story, which is what triggered criminal charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death. 

However, Stoner said the court was never presented with any physical evidence that proved neglect of a dependent, such as broken bones or signs of abuse.  

Jamie Davis, a child abuse detective with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, testified over the mother's confession, which she said came after the mother told several versions of how her baby died. 

When she confessed, Davis said Lacey was 'sitting in my lap and crying on my shoulder, and had said that she did her baby wrong and said that she had smothered her baby.' 

'Basically, she said that she was high, and she was tired, and Alona had been crying. Ultimately, she ended up picking up Alona and facing her towards the crease in the couch. So, if you have the back of the couch and then the seating area, she placed her faced toward the crease,' she said. 

Lacey initially claimed that her daughter's death was a freak accident, and told authorities several stories before admitting to smothering her daughter in their home (pictured) 

Ultimately, Judge Stoner ruled that prosecutors brought inappropriate charges, as they couldn't prove that Lacey killed her daughter with intent. 

'You're not innocent, but you're not guilty of what the state has charged you with,' he said at the conclusion of the trial.

'This is a case that happens when you're a bad parent. There are some things you can never do. You can never have sole possession of your children and go out and use drugs.'

While saying he was freeing her 'reluctantly', Stoner stressed that under the law, 'not everything that's a mistake or everything that is wrong is criminal.' 

'Something has to be done with criminal intent, criminal responsibility, and that's what the defendant is charged with,' he said. 

'When the state chooses to charge an individual, they must prove they did something with criminal intent. Poor parenting, by definition, is not criminal.' 

Laying the blame for the mother walking free on the state, Stoner concluded: 'It's important to understand that the prosecutor chooses the charges. It's the prosecutor that's elected. 

'The prosecutor has a screening division to make decisions as to what should be charged.' 

The Marion County Prosecutor's Office reportedly issued a brief statement to WTHR, saying the department 'have no additional comment at this time.'