A Houston mother has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a Galveston County jury found her guilty of capital murder for stabbing her 17-month-old daughter and throwing her from a hotel balcony, according to prosecutors.
Channel Jasmine Yonko was convicted on Friday in the 2024 killing of her daughter, Hannah, after jurors deliberated for less than an hour, court officials said. Because the victim was younger than 10, Texas law required an automatic life sentence without parole when prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.
Prosecutors told jurors that Yonko stabbed Hannah three times in the back before dropping her from a balcony at the Beach Front Palms Hotel along Seawall Boulevard in Galveston. A court-appointed psychiatrist testified that Yonko admitted to the stabbing during the investigation, according to People.
The crime took place on the morning of Oct. 23, 2024, when officers responding to reports of an injured child found Hannah bleeding on 59th Street near the hotel. Emergency crews took her to the University of Texas Medical Branch trauma center, where she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
Doctors discovered puncture wounds on the toddler's body that were consistent with being stabbed, according to a probable cause affidavit. Investigators later obtained hotel surveillance video that showed the child falling from a third-floor balcony, landing on the ground below.
Detectives searching the hotel's parking garage found a trash bag containing a room key, a "skinning" knife, toys, diapers, and children's snacks, items they linked to Yonko and her daughter. Authorities said the knife was believed to have been used in the stabbing, Fox7Austin reported.
During the trial, Yonko's defense team argued she was legally insane and did not understand her actions were wrong at the time of the killing. Jurors rejected that claim after reviewing surveillance footage, text messages, witness accounts, and expert testimony presented by the state.
Prosecutors also showed evidence that Yonko left the hotel area, hid items, and tried to arrange a ride away from Galveston within minutes of the incident. They said those actions showed she knew what she had done and was attempting to avoid arrest.
Yonko, who is from Houston, will serve her sentence in the Texas prison system and is not eligible for parole under the terms of the capital murder conviction. Officials said no further sentencing hearings are expected in the case, as per ABC13.
