Jamie Petronella, 24, last known address of 525 Jones Ave. in Blanco, TX was sentenced to 30 in Prison for the offense of Injury to a Child resulting in death for failing to seek medical attention for injuries received by a child that ultimately resulted in death. Petronella entered a plea of guilty on Wednesday May 17, 2017 in the 33rd District Court Judge Allan Garrett presiding, for her omission to seek medical help for her 15 month old daughter Sunny Bort. John Lawrence had previously pled guilty to the offense of Capital Murder of a Child for his part in the death and was sentenced to Life in Prison without the possibility of parole.
On May 3, 2016 Blanco police officers responded to a Blanco apartment after Petronella reported her child was not breathing. Officers found Sunny Bort on the living room floor unresponsive. The child was transported to University Medical Center in San Antonio where she later died.
Emergency responders noticed bruising and other injuries on the child. The child’s mother, Jamie Petronella, blamed the injuries on the actions of another child in the apartment. The Blanco Police Department and the 33rd & 424th Judicial District Attorney’s Office immediately called the Texas Rangers to assist in the investigation.
After an extensive investigation by law enforcement, Petronella was indicted for the offense of Injury to a Child for failing to seek medical attention for the child which ultimately resulted in the child’s death. Lawrence, who lived with Petronella, entered a guilty plea Capital Murder of a Child younger than 10 years of age for intentionally causing the death of Sunny Bort. During interviews with Lawrence, he took sole responsibility for the injuries and stated he caused the injuries while Petronella was at work.
33rd & 424th Judicial District Attorney Wiley B. “Sonny” McAfee stated “although Petronella did not cause the injuries to Sunny as revealed by the investigation, as a mother, if she didn’t protect her child from Lawrence, she should have at least tried to get help as quickly as she could and she failed. I am glad we were able to reach a disposition in which we did not have to put any of her other children through the trauma of a trial.”