MOUNT CLEMENS (WWJ) A Clinton Township woman-- convicted in the 2023 starvation death of her two-year-old son-- was sentenced to decades in prison.
The Macomb County Prosecutor's Office said Sierra Pearl Zaitona, 29, was sentenced on Wednesday to 24 to 50 years for Second Degree Murder and 43 months to ten years for Second Degree Child Abuse. She pled no contest to both charges in February.
She will serve her sentences concurrently in the Michigan Department of Corrections and will get credit for the 754 days she has already served in the Macomb County Jail.
Zaitona will also be listed on Michigan’s Central Registry for Child Abuse and Neglect, in accordance with Wyatt's Law.
According to prosecutors, police and law enforcement found Zaitona's young son dead-on-arrival when they were called to her Clinton Township home in March of 2023.
Prosecutors allege Zaitona found her son dead in his crib. Clinton Township Police launched an investigation.
The child's biological father, Jonathon Cheek, was also charged with Second Degree Murder and Second Degree Child Abuse.
The medical examiner labeled the cause of the child's death as "fatal starvation."
Cheek pled no contest to both charges in October of 2024. He was also sentenced to 24 to 50 years for Second Degree Murder. For Second Degree Child Abuse, he received a sentence of 86 months to ten years.
"The tragic circumstances surrounding this case are heartbreaking as they involve the loss of a young life," Macomb County Prosecutor Pete Lucido said. "An entire family is... permanently impacted in a terrible way."