FRANKFORT, KY (March 28, 2025) – Attorney General Russell Coleman announced today a Kenton County woman convicted of murder after her toddler son ingested her fentanyl will remain in prison. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid narcotic up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. The Attorney General’s Office of the Solicitor General worked to uphold the conviction before the Kentucky Supreme Court.
The Kentucky Supreme Court recently upheld Lauren Baker’s 33-year-sentence. In 2023, Baker was convicted of wanton murder and two counts of trafficking in a controlled substance in the first degree.
On March 18, 2021, Baker, who admitted to using her stimulus check to purchase fentanyl only days before, awoke to find her 2-year-old son had located her fentanyl and died from ingesting it. The child’s toxicology lab revealed his fentanyl concentration was almost ten times what could be lethal to an adult.
The Kentucky Supreme Court held that an individual is guilty of wanton murder when she causes the death of another person “by wantonly engaging in conduct creating a grave risk of death to another person under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life.”
“This ruling sets an important precedent: Kentuckians who expose their children and loved ones to these deadly drugs will be held accountable when tragedy inevitably strikes,” said Attorney General Coleman. “While this ruling is a clear victory, nothing will bring back that young child, and we continue to mourn an innocent life lost too soon.”
James Havey represented the Commonwealth before the Kentucky Supreme Court. Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders, Taylor Roof, and Maria Wentz from the Kenton County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office prosecuted this matter in circuit court.
Read the Kentucky Supreme Court’s ruling here.
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