Blanco County mother sentenced to 30 years for failing to protect children

A Blanco woman was sentenced last week to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of injury to a child resulting the death of her 15-month-old daughter.

Jamie Petronella, 24, was found to have failed to seek medical attention for her daughter Sunny Bort, who died May 5, 2016, in a San Antonio hospital from injuries she received at the hands of Petronella's live-in boyfriend, John Cody Lawrence, 24.

On Feb. 3, Lawrence was sentenced to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to capital murder of a child younger than 10 years of age for intentionally causing the toddler's death.

Petronella appeared before 33rd District Judge Allan Garrett on Wednesday, May 17, for her role in the child's death. She was given a plea for a lesser charge after Lawrence accepted sole responsibility for causing the injuries, which he alleged he caused to the child while Petronella was at work.

On May 3, 2016, Blanco police officers responded to an apartment at 525 Jones Ave. after Petronella reported her child was not breathing. Officers found 15-month-old Sunny Bort on the living room floor, unresponsive. The child was transported to University Medical Center in San Antonio, where she later died. A medical examiner ruled her death was by blunt force trauma and possible asphyxiation.

Emergency responders noticed bruising and other injuries on the child. At first, Petronella blamed the injuries on the actions of another child in the apartment, but that claim quickly came under scrutiny. The Blanco Police Department and the 33rd and 424th Judicial District Attorney’s office immediately called the Texas Rangers to assist in the investigation.

“Rangers from Burnet, Kerrville, San Antonio, Austin and Hayes County all came together to assist the Blanco Police Department and Blanco County Sheriff’s Department in the investigation,” 33rd and 424th Judicial District Attorney Wiley B. “Sonny” McAfee said. “Subsequently, one Ranger obtained a confession, where he detailed Lawrence, indeed, killed the child.”

Child Protective Services had Sunny Bort's two siblings removed from the home after they were examined. Published reports indicated Petronella's three-year-old son was found to have bleeding on the brain and her other daughter, 2, had bruises and a cut between her anus and vagina.

After an extensive investigation by law enforcement, Petronella was indicted for the offense of injury to a child for failing to seek medical attention for the child, which ultimately resulted in the child’s death.

“Although Petronella did not cause the injuries to Sunny as revealed by the investigation, as a mother, if she didn’t protect her child from Lawrence, she should have at least tried to get help as quickly as she could and she failed,” McAfee said. “I am glad we were able to reach a disposition in which we did not have to put any of her other children through the trauma of a trial.”

Lawrence still faces two charges of super aggravated sexual assault of a child.