SALAMANCA, N.Y. — A Kill Buck woman convicted of killing her 1-year-old daughter by shaking her in April 2015 will be sentenced at 2 p.m. Friday in Salamanca City Court.
Leslie Finch, 26, could get a maximum of 25 years in state prison after being found guilty of charges including first-degree manslaughter, a class B violent felony, on Dec. 6 following a non-jury trial in Cattaraugus County Court in Little Valley, the chambers of which are undergoing renovations. Judge William Boller of Erie County, presiding due to a familial conflict, further issued guilty verdicts for second-degree manslaughter, a class C felony; reckless assault of a child and second-degree assault, class D felonies; and endangering the welfare of a child, a class A misdemeanor.
She was not guilty on two counts of second-degree murder, a class A-1 felony; and one count of first-degree assault, a class B felony.
“I’m hoping for the maximum, but I understand that the judge has to pay attention to all sides before he makes his decisions,” said District Attorney Lori Rieman, who prosecuted the case. “I don’t even think 25 is enough for what she did, but it’s the most we have in our system.”
The trial analyzed the death of Mila Whipple, who died April 26, 2015, less than two weeks after her first birthday, from what medical examiners described as a traumatic brain injury caused by violent shaking. On April 24, the unresponsive baby was transported from a baby sitter’s house in Salamanca to Olean General Hospital, where she was then flown via medical helicopter to Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo. A grand jury on July 9 that year indicted Finch for her daughter’s death, and she pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Defense attorney Jason Schmidt of Fredonia intends to file an appeal.
“Quite frankly, even though I am working on the defense’s sentencing memorandum presenting mitigating factors and urging for the minimum sentence, I expect Judge Boller to sentence Leslie to the maximum amount of jail time, or somewhere near there,” Schmidt wrote in an email Monday. “We are firmly of the opinion that the guilty verdicts were not supported by the evidence and that Leslie is innocent.”
Schmidt said Finch may read a statement Friday. Rieman said a family member on the prosecution side likely will read a victim-impact statement.
Finch attended trial free after posting bail. Following the guilty verdicts, Boller revoked her bail and remanded her to Cattaraugus County Jail to await sentencing. Finch began crying as she was taken into police custody. “It’s too late for tears,” an unknown member of the gallery proclaimed that day.
Rieman highlighted medical accounts detailing a pattern of abuse and neglect — including fractures to Mila’s ribs and spine, which, doctors said, were suffered well before her death. The district attorney painted Finch as a partier who was scorned by a breakup with Mila’s father, Matthew Whipple.
“It impacted all of us,” Rieman said. “Almost everybody I work with, we all have kids or have relatives that are kids. It hit everybody at home … even including the doctors.”
Schmidt countered by questioning the timeline leading to Mila’s death. The facts, he said in a closing statement Dec. 6, created “no medical certainty” as to who had custody when the fatal injury occurred.
“I’m very cognizant that this is a room filled with people who loved Mila, but we have to just say what we know,” he said that day. “It’s not possible to know when the fatal injury occurred. This is not a case about what happened to Mila. It’s about when it happened. If you can establish when it happened, then you get to the ultimate question here of who did it.”
Schmidt may motion for the sentencing to be postponed pending an external psychiatric evaluation, Rieman said.
“I oppose county money being spent on a psychiatrist from Florida,” she added. “Nobody else gets that. Even people who pay for their own defense can’t generally afford that. I certainly don’t think our county should pay for it.”
