A Bullhead City woman who was high and naked when she endangered her newborn daughter during a swim at Lake Mohave last summer has been sentenced to federal prison. U.S. District Court Judge Douglas L. Rayes imposed a 30-month prison term for Justine Renee Kirklen, 33, during a Feb. 25 hearing in Phoenix.
Bullhead City police department spokeswoman Emily Fromelt said officers assisted the National Park Service after receiving reports that a naked woman with a baby was walking toward the lake near Davis Dam on June 9, 2018. Federal Public Defender Jon Sands claims a long history of mental health issues exacerbated by daily drug use led to the dangerous swim.
“The combination of her suffering from post-partum depression and having a substance abuse psychotic disorder at the time of the offense, is the only reason that Ms. Kirklen would have ever been walking naked, down the street, on a rocky road, with her child, heading toward the lake,” Sands wrote in his sentencing memorandum. It said that Kirklen’s drug abuse history can be traced to a traffic accident for which she was prescribed opioid medications to treat back pain, which led to drug addiction.
“Her judgment was so impaired that she posed a danger to her child when she walked into the lake with the water so deep that she was holding her baby in one hand, while swimming/treading water with her other hand,” Sands stated.
Fromelt said that witnesses intervened at some point to help rescue the infant. She said bystanders assured Kirklen that her baby was okay when she expressed distress that she had killed her.
Kirklen was transported to Western Arizona Regional Medical Center and a subsequent mental health evaluation determined that she suffered from a “substance-induced psychotic disorder.”
Sands’ memorandum said Kirklen accepts full responsibility for the incident and that she has been doing better after eight months of sobriety while incarcerated. Sands tells the Court that Kirklen recognizes she is incapable of raising her daughter and has voluntarily terminated her parental rights.
Sands contends that giving up her daughter and motherhood is an “ultimate sacrifice” and strong dose of punishment for Kirklen. Sands said that the baby is in the final stages of being adopted.
Kirklen pled guilty to child abuse. She will be on supervised release after prison.
