BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week
CANTON — Lashanna Charlton will serve 20 years in prison and five years post release supervision for the killing of her daughter Treyanna Summerville in Gouverneur more than two years ago.
Final sentencing was held Feb. 6.
Charlton pled guilty to first-degree manslaughter after she allegedly hit her daughter with a hammer causing a wound that became infected and later led to death.
Under the agreement, charges of second-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child were dismissed.
Charlton will also face supervision after she is released and will need to abide by an order of protection for a second juvenile victim. That protection order will be in place until 2052.
St. Lawrence County District Attorney Gary Pasqua said he was satisfied and grateful with the court’s decision to sentence Charlton to the maximum penalty as requested by his office. He said that he believes the deal was the best outcome available for the victims and their families.
Pasqua said that he wishes the situation never came to pass and that someone could have interceded long before Summerville lost her life, but is hopeful that sentencing will allow the other victim to move forward. He did not place blame on the agencies, though and was clear that the person responsible was the person sentenced.
“There were many different entities that may have been able to intercede whether this is county, or school or state level. But the fact of the matter is, there is only one person responsible for this crime and that’s Lashanna Charlton,” he said.
While St. Lawrence County Department of Social Services, the local school and law enforcement agencies all came under criticism for not intervening sooner, Pasqua said that he believes all entities did the best that they could with the information they had at the time. Summerville’s death also became the focus of local Black Lives Matter organizers.
“Do I wish more could have been done? Absolutely. But I don’t believe anyone, person or entity, truly knew what was going on in that home besides the people who lived there,” he said.
