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A Louisiana grandmother is facing a jury this week on first-degree murder charges after prosecutors allege she forced her 4-year-old granddaughter to drink a lethal amount of whiskey as a “punishment.”
Roxanne Record, 57, appeared in court as prosecutors described the final moments of her granddaughter, China Record’s, life in April 2022. Prosecutors said the child was forced to her knees and made to finish a bottle of Canadian Mist whiskey while her mother, Kadjah Record, allegedly looked on and did nothing.
During opening statements, Assistant District Attorney Dana Cummings described the typical relationship children have with their grandparents, noting that China had the opposite.
“China never had that because her grandmother never, ever took to her, never liked her, treated her differently than she treated the other children,” Cummings said, according to The Advocate.
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Roxanne Record, 57, was arrested in April 2022 following the death of her granddaughter China. (Baton Rouge Police Department)
Prosecutors alleged a “pattern of cruelty” inside the Baton Rouge home, saying China was so marginalized that her siblings were conditioned to believe the 4-year-old was “stealing” when she tried to access basic necessities like food and water.
Prosecutors said the punishment began when China took a single sip from a whiskey bottle left on a kitchen counter.
They allege Roxanne Record then forced the child to consume the rest of the 750ml bottle — approximately 1.6 pints of 80-proof liquor.
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Kadjah Record, Roxanne’s daughter, is also charged with murder after watching Roxanne punish her toddler without intervening. (Baton Rouge Police Department)
First responders found the child unresponsive at the family’s Wallis Street home. An autopsy later revealed a blood alcohol content of 0.680 — more than eight times the legal limit for an adult driver.
The Baton Rouge Police Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
“She… just went on with daily life while she died,” Cummings told the jury.
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The toddler was unresponsive when police officers first arrived on the scene and was pronounced dead two hours later. (Getty Images)
Meanwhile, defense attorney Caitlin Fowlkes countered that while China’s death was a “tragedy that nobody should have to endure,” it was also an accident.
She argued Record attempted to save the girl with CPR and said the state cannot prove the “specific intent” required for a first-degree murder conviction.
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If convicted of first-degree murder, Roxanne Record faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The child’s mother, Kadjah Record, is also charged with murder and is expected to stand trial later this summer.