Grand jury to hear case of Louisville woman charged in overdose death of 1-year-old girl

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A woman charged with manslaughter in the overdose death of a 1-year-old girl appeared in court again Friday morning.

Saniya Frazier, 19, is charged with manslaughter after the child overdosed on fentanyl from pills inside Frazier's purse. The girl was taken to the hospital, where she later died.

Frazier teared up in court Friday as new testimony was presented about the circumstances leading to the child’s death. Louisville Metro Police Detective Derek Druin testified that Frazier and her sister had seen the child with a purse, containing pills laced with fentanyl, shortly before the fatal incident.

"The purse was directly next to the seat where the baby would've been sitting," Druin said.

According to Druin’s testimony, Frazier admitted the purse contained pills.

"Saniya produced a pill that she stated had been in her purse, that there were several that were in her purse, for the purpose of trying to help figure out what was going on with this baby," Druin testified. "And (she) said that they had seen the baby playing with the purse the night before."

Frazier's attorney, Michael Harrell, argued for the charges to be dismissed.

"At the end of the day, kids getting into every single nook and cranny is unreasonable for us to be constantly worrying about 24/7," Harrell said. "But when we do see them possibly doing something, what do we do? We take care. We separate. And that's what they did."

Assistant County Attorney Carly Harvey countered that the child's death was the result of Frazier's decisions.

"This is about a series of very poor choices by the defendant," Harvey said. "She chose to keep the illegal narcotics. She chose to keep them in not a pill-safe container. She chose to keep them in her purse that was open. She chose to keep that purse within reach of a child, and, because of these, now we have a child that is dead."

Judge Jennifer Leibson ruled that the felony charges would be sent to a grand jury later this month.

Frazier remains in custody at the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections on a $250,000 bond and will be placed home incarceration if bond is posted.

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