08 August 2017 :
A Maricopa County jury sentenced Sammantha Allen, 29, White, to death in the July 12, 2011 suffocation death of Ame Deal, 10, at the child's home.
The woman was sentenced for killing her 10-year-old cousin, who was locked inside a small storage bin as punishment for taking a Popsicle without permission.
Family members claimed she locked herself in the trunk while playing hide-and-seek, but authorities believe she died from abuse. Allen was convicted in June of first-degree murder and child abuse for leaving the child locked inside a plastic storage bin overnight in triple-digit temperatures. The girl was found dead the next morning. Police claimed the family abused Ame because they did not believe she was a blood relative.
Prosecutors are also seeking the death penalty against her husband, John Allen, 29, who has pleaded not guilty to murder and child abuse charges in the girl's death. His trial is scheduled to start on Oct. 9. Cynthia Stoltzmann (Sammantha Allen’s mother) pleaded guilty to two counts of child abuse and one count of attempted child abuse.
On September 13, 2013, she was sentenced to 24 years in prison and given a lifetime of probation. Judith Deal (mother of John Allen) also pleaded guilty to attempted child abuse, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, plus a lifetime of probation.David Martin Deal (father of the victim) pleaded guilty to attempted child abuse and was sentenced to 14 years in prison on July 6, 2013.
