Kayla Shelynn Carter, whose three-year-old son died in August 2022 while playing with his father’s unsecured firearm, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday morning.
She changed her original plea of not guilty to no contest during a hearing at the Judge Stephan P. Mickle, Sr. Criminal Courthouse, avoiding a trial that was set for early January. Carter, 36, will instead serve out three concurrent sentences: 10 years for negligent aggravated manslaughter of a child and five years each for two counts of child neglect. She will receive 784 days credit for the time she has already spent in jail.
The state did not pursue convictions on an additional count of child neglect nor a misdemeanor charge of unsafe firearm storage.
Carter’s child, three-year-old Ja’Kobe Ferguson, died in August 2022 from an accidental, self-inflicted gunshot wound. He had been playing with one of his father’s unsecured firearms, stored inside a couch’s console, at home when it went off. Two of Ja’Kobe’s young siblings were with him at the time of the shooting and are the victims of the child neglect charges.
8th Judicial Circuit Judge David Kreider said there would be no contact between Carter and the two children unless permitted by the Florida Department of Children and Families. However, the conditions of a final visitation were not clear to the children’s current caregiver, Kadejah Jenkins.
“I was able to take the girls to the jail to see Mom,” said Jenkins, 42, who is also a friend of Carter. But when Carter wanted to write to her children, she was told that would violate no contact, according to Jenkins.
“Some of them (jail officials) let us go back, but some of them had more questions,” Jenkins said. “By the time they (Carter and Ferguson) come home, the girls will be grown, and they won’t have parents.”
Attorney Eric Atria represented Carter in the hearing in place of her usual attorney, John Broling. Atria and Kreider discussed whether the Department of Children and Families would allow a final visit before Carter is transferred to prison. They agreed that the department likely wouldn’t reopen the investigation to settle visitation rights and told Jenkins to contact the department for clarification.
“If DCF says it’s OK to visit, you can take the children to the jail before she (Carter) goes to the Department of Corrections,” Kreider said.
Outside of the courtroom, Jenkins said she was concerned that the children would not be able to say goodbye to either of their parents. She had not planned to continue being the children’s caregiver for the next decade, and she said she would be reaching out to the Department of Children and Families to understand the next steps for the children.
Carter was still considering her plea offer on Oct. 22, when her son’s father, Ledrick Lataurus Ferguson, changed his plea from not guilty to no contest. Ferguson, 50, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for negligent aggravated manslaughter of a child, two counts of child neglect and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
Both are from Gainesville and lived in the Lamplighter Mobile Home Park, just south of Gainesville’s airport.
The 2021 National Firearms Survey found that 15% of American firearm owners with children kept at least one firearm both loaded and unlocked. Since 2022, there have been at least 35 deaths from unintentional shootings by children in Florida, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.