Brandi Giannunzio
A request for judicial diversion for the woman who was babysitting three-year-old Annie Shell when she was rushed to the hospital and later died has been denied. The incident happened in Hixson in August 2018.
Judge Barry Steelman said Brandi Giannunzio, 31, would remain under terms of four years probation for filing a false report.
Under diversion, the charge could have been wiped from the record if she got in no further trouble. With the decision, she will continue to have a felony record.
Ms. Giannunzio, in tearful testimony, said she thought about Annie every day - "the way she would dance when the music was playing." She said she wished she had that day to do over.
One factor cited by Judge Steelman was the fact that Ms. Giannunzio has remained in a relationship with Benjamin Brown, who was earlier sentenced to less than three years total for the death of the child. The jury found him guilty of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment.
The judge said of Brown, "It took a horrible person to do what Mr. Brown did to that child, and he did it."
Judge Steelman said the damage to the child's head occurred when Ms. Giannunzio left her home to go to a beauty salon and trusted Brown with the child. He said he had given Brown "every day that I could" in jail under the much-reduced jury finding.
He also said Ms. Giannunzio had initially lied about leaving her house, and he said that impeded the criminal investigation.
He noted that Ms. Giannunzio did not have custody of a 12-year-old daughter by another boyfriend and a five-year-old daughter by Brown.
Her attorney said Ms. Giannunzio had not gotten into any criminal trouble during the past five years. He said she was not responsible for the child's death, and she was the one who summoned emergency personnel.
Ms. Giannunzio said she had been studying to be a legal assistant in order to help others with their court cases.
Prosecutor Brian Finlay said Ms. Giannunzio had betrayed the trust of the child's parents. He said he could not think of a more egregious case and reason for denying diversion.
Tiffany Shell, mother of the child, said in court that she could never forgive Ms. Giannunzio for her actions that day.