Parole has been approved for a Mountain Home woman sentenced to 26 years in prison after being found guilty of permitting child abuse and endangering the welfare of a minor.
Thirty-seven-year-old Alyssia Kirby was approved for parole after a reconsideration hearing February 6. Her parole had been denied last year.
An inmate or the inmate’s attorney “may request reconsideration of any parole decision of the board within 60 days of the official vote of the board.”
Kirby was found guilty by a Baxter County Circuit Court Jury in early February 2018. The jury acquitted her of a first-degree battery charge.
The charges stemmed from her involvement in actions that left her then three-week-old son seriously injured.
Kirby and her now ex-husband, Jonathan Snow, indicated in interviews with law enforcement that they were the only two people who cared for the baby, whose name at the time was Alyas. The child has since been adopted and had his name changed.
At the time of the investigations, Kirby and Jonathan Snow gave several explanations to account for the extensive injuries suffered by the baby, including that he had been “bumped by a car seat buckle.”
Jonathan Snow was found guilty in mid-October 2017 of first-degree battery and endangering the welfare of a minor and was given 41 years in prison.
On appeal, his battery charge was thrown out by the Arkansas Court of Appeals leaving only the conviction on the less serious charge of endangering the welfare of a minor standing.
In the ruling on Jonathan Snow’s appeal, the judges on the appeals court wrote that “based on evidence presented at the trial, it appeared just as likely that Alyssia Kirby – rather than Jonathan Snow – had been responsible for injuries the infant sustained.”
Alyssia Kirby has unsuccessfully sought post-conviction relief from the verdict of the Baxter County Circuit Court jury since being in prison.
The investigation into the injuries the baby sustained was launched in early 2016 after the Mountain Home Police Department received a report from Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock saying the couples infant appeared to have suffered serious abuse.
The baby was born to Alyssia Kirby and Jonathan Snow in late January 2016. He was 19-years-old and she was more than 10 years older. They lived together in an apartment along State Highway 201 North.
They were married in 2016. Jonathan Snow filed for divorce after he had been paroled from prison and the final divorce decree was issued in mid-April last year, according to court records.
Alyssia Kirby has been an inmate in the McPherson Unit of the state prison system at Newport.
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