San Diego

A mother described as “criminally negligent” in the bathtub death of her 2-year-old son was sentenced Tuesday to five years in state prison.

Creana Lewis, 24, of San Diego was sentenced by San Diego Municipal Judge Robert McDonald on charges stemming from the July 20 death of her son, John Lewis.

The cause of death could not be determined in an autopsy, but the child suffered severe burns on his legs from scalding water, Deputy Dist. Atty. Bonnie Howard said.

Lewis, who is pregnant, pleaded guilty Oct. 11 to a felony charge of child endangerment.

Howard told the judge that Lewis forcibly held her son in the hot water, causing the burns. But the judge rejected that theory, saying the child could just as well have turned on the hot water himself.

“I think the injury was accidental, but she was criminally negligent,” McDonald said, adding that Lewis had left her son in the tub unattended while caring for two other children.

Her attorney, Kay Sunday, argued for a much lesser sentence: “She will regret her inattention for the rest of her life. . . . She cannot be punished any more than she has been.

The woman’s two other girls are in the custody of their father, who was separated from the defendant at the time. Sunday said Lewis will give birth in prison but the baby will be taken away from her.

She was also fined $1,000. Lewis had no record.