Pontiac woman sentenced for burning and killing baby

A young woman was sentenced to prison Tuesday after her 2-year-old relative died from hot water burns.

Breeze Henke, 18, was found guilty of homicide and second-degree child abuse after she placed the 2-year-old she was babysitting in bath water so hot it burned the child, who later died from her injuries. She was sentenced to one year in prison and one year of probation.

"I'm asking you for a chance not only for me to have a life but for me to get back with my family because they need me and I need them also," she said during her court proceedings prior to her sentencing.

Henke's attorney said it was not a malicious act by his client.

"The water heater did not have a cap on it from the perspective of no temperature gage on it," said Jeffrey Quas, Henke's attorney. "(These are) awful circumstances that were not intended."

Prior to the sentencing, Henke's attorney also read an emotional letter from the child's mother who begged the judge to be lenient on her niece.

"This is an outrageously tragic case," said Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Rae Lee Chabot.