Samantha Thomas, the partner of Stafan Gibbs, pleads guilty before Judge Gregory Howard inside Courtroom two during a plea hearing on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, at the Cabell County Courthouse in Huntington.
Lawyer Tanner Wall speaks while representing Samantha Thomas inside Judge Gregory Howard's courtroom during a plea hearing on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, at the Cabell County Courthouse in Huntington.
òòò½ÊÓƵsistant prosecuting attorney Tyler Shoub thumbs through a file folder during a plea hearing for Samantha Thomas on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, at the Cabell County Courthouse in Huntington.
Samantha Thomas, the partner of Stafan Gibbs, pleads guilty before Judge Gregory Howard inside Courtroom two during a plea hearing on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, at the Cabell County Courthouse in Huntington.
Lawyer Tanner Wall speaks while representing Samantha Thomas inside Judge Gregory Howard's courtroom during a plea hearing on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, at the Cabell County Courthouse in Huntington.
òòò½ÊÓƵsistant prosecuting attorney Tyler Shoub thumbs through a file folder during a plea hearing for Samantha Thomas on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, at the Cabell County Courthouse in Huntington.
HUNTINGTON òòò½ÊÓƵ” A woman charged in connection with her infant sonòòò½ÊÓƵ™s death in 2019 entered an information plea in Cabell County Circuit Court on Tuesday.
Samantha Faye Thomas, 28, entered a guilty plea to the charge of child neglect creating risk of death after her 10-month-old son, Amari Lavelle Gibbs, died in 2019. According to Prosecuting Attorney Jason Spears, Amari died after he was exposed to heroin in her home and was not immediately taken to the hospital.
Thomas testified in court Tuesday that she is not addicted to any drugs or alcohol, and on the day of her sonòòò½ÊÓƵ™s death, she left him with his father, Stafan Lavelle Gibbs. Thomas also said Gibbs was a drug dealer at the time and that she knew there was a possibility of drugs being within reach of the infant.
Gibbs was sentenced in April to one to five years in prison with credit for time served in jail on the same charge.
Gibbs testified during his sentencing that on the day of the incident, he was with his brother all day and after putting Amari to bed, Gibbs found Amari dead the next morning.
Because of the charge, Thomas will be put on the child neglect registry, which she signed a notice of Tuesday. The state requires Thomas to be on the registry for 10 years.
Thomas waived her right to an indictment by a grand jury and chose to go straight to sentencing. Judge Gregory Howard scheduled her sentencing for 9:15 a.m. Aug. 18 in circuit courtroom two.
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