Tarrant County mom gets 12 years for attempting to suffocate her baby

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FORT WORTH, Texas - A woman charged with trying to suffocate her baby has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Police say Shawna Bieber took the baby to Cook Children's Medical Center last year and claimed her baby would stop breathing.

The mother and child were taken to a hospital room with hidden cameras that captured Bieber squeezing her seven-month-old daughter two different times.

Prosecutors think Bieber was exaggerating the baby's medical symptoms to gain attention.

An arrest warrant affidavit at the time of the incident stated Bieber told a woman she lived with she did what she did in an attempt to rid the child of a demon.

"Any time you suffocate a baby, you deserve to go to prison," said Katie Owens, Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Special Victims Unit. "Justice was served for Lonna, who is happy and healthy now. We are grateful to the Sheriff’s Department for conducting a thorough investigation."

She signed away her parental rights to the child as part of her sentencing.