Inside Judge's Emotional Scolding of Mom Who Fatally Stabbed Her 13-Month-Old Daughter: 'You Did a Horrible Thing'

Mar. 15, 2025

Chloe Driver, Hannah Nicole Driver.Photo:Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office (2)

Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office (2)

A Georgia judgescoldeda mother who fatally stabbed her 13-month-old daughter, calling the crime “heinous” and “unfathomable.”

“You did a horrible thing,” Cherokee County Chief Superior Court Judge Ellen McElyea told 24-year-old Chloe Driver during hersentencing on Thursday, Dec. 12.

“This was a heinous offense with evidence that was so graphic and so traumatic that I began to do research on what kind of support and help we could give the jurors who were having to consider it,” she said.

“A parent killing a child is something that just offends us on the deepest level. It is a wrong that just is unfathomable. It just cannot be understood and it scares us because it is so contrary to just fundamental moral behavior and what we expect of the bonds between human beings.”

McElyea sentenced Driver to life in prison with the possibility of parole one month after Driver was found guilty but mentally ill of malice murder, felony murder, cruelty to children in the first degree, and aggravated assault in the 2020 death,CBS2reported.

The case came to light on Dec. 8, 2020, when theCanton Police Departmentresponded to a Cherokee County, Ga., home where they found 13-month-old Hannah suffering from stab wounds.

Hannah Nicole Driver.Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office

Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office

Driver, who was described as having “life-threatening injuries” from the incident, was also taken to the hospital.

During the trial, prosecutors accused Driver of killing Hannah because she wanted to be with her “polygamist” husband who also allegedly had two other wives.

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Explaining the alleged motive, prosecutors said, “She wanted to be with him and he was never going to give up his polygamist cult lifestyle that they had adopted.”

Prosecutors alleged the group held “radical views” and “alternative” healing practices that included “drinking their own urine.”

During Thursday’s sentencing, Driver expressed remorse for her actions: “I am terribly sorry for many things in my life but most of all for who was lost, and I always will be. Every single day I live with my guilt,” she said.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

source: people.com