Cheerleader Cries in Court During Shocking Baby Killing Plea

So tell me when you say instead of helping him, you did what? I ended his life. A shocking update in the case of the former college cheerleader and beauty queen charged with manslaughter in connection to the death of her newborn son. Lakin Snelling was accused of giving birth in her college apartment and then after the boy died, hiding his body in a trash bag and leaving. How did you end his life, Neil? I deprived him of all of it. Okay, all right. Today- The Crispy Chicken Crunchwrap Slider is back at Taco Bell. The slider-sized crunchwrap with nuggets inside you love the first time, now with a spicy kick you're gonna love this time. Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch. Or you could order some crispy all-white meat nuggets on their own. Pretty sure you love those anytime. Every time. Okay, all of the times. The Crispy Chicken Crunchwrap Slider. A brand new classic is back, only at Taco Bell. At participating U.S. Taco Bell locations for a limited time and while supplies last. In her own words, for the first time, we hear a shocking and emotional admission in court. We're on the case presented by Law & Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. We were not expecting this today. Today was set to be a routine status hearing in the case of Lakin Snelling in Kentucky. But then came this. Tell me what you get. I was under a lot of emotional distress. And my baby came unexpectedly. And instead of helping him, I decided. And afterwards, I cleaned up and didn't tell him. Lakin Snelling, with her two attorneys by her side, sobbed in front of the judge as she pleaded guilty to major charges, including first-degree manslaughter. Prosecutors also put in what they believe her punishment should be. And we'll talk about that in just a moment. But we need to talk about the emotion that we saw in court today. Because it is by far the most emotion that we have seen out of Lakin Snelling since her arrest in August of last year, when we first started covering this story. And we've seen her in court multiple times. There were even moments where she smiled in court during previous hearings. But today was certainly different. And that's because she was admitting guilt in this case. Now, it takes a lot for an attorney to recommend. To their client, that they're going to have them plead guilty to what prosecutors are alleging. And we're going to go through the evidence in this case to show you why Lakin Snelling and her legal team potentially decided that this was the best path forward instead of a trial. So let's go back to when this story began. It is 1030 in the morning, August 27th, 2025 in Lexington, Kentucky. That's where the University of Kentucky is. That's where Lakin Snelling went to college. She was there for three years. Then she withdrew after her arrest because of what prosecutors say happened. And law enforcement is called to off-campus housing in Lexington and to the home where Lakin Snelling was living with her roommates. Now, Snelling had a lot going for her. She was a student at the University of Kentucky, but she was also a varsity athlete because she was a member of the University of Kentucky Wildcats stunt cheerleading team. And we're not just talking about a group that tries to get the crowd going on the side. We're talking about the guidelines of a football game. Stunt cheerleading is a lot of high-flying, acrobatic tricks, a lot of coordination. You take a look at this screen grab here from a video of the Wildcats competing. This is per FlowCheer on YouTube. And this video was taken in April of 2025. And that means if the baby that Lakin Snelling gave birth to was full term in August, that she was very much pregnant at the time of this competition. Now, when police get to Lakin Snelling's home, on that day in August, they find a baby in a trash bag in a closet. Police say the child was also wrapped in a towel. The baby boy was pronounced dead on scene. Now, the arrest citation reportedly says that when police spoke to Lakin Snelling, she admitted to giving birth to the child. Then she allegedly said that she concealed the birth by cleaning evidence and putting all of the cleaning items inside a black trash bag along with the body of her newborn son. Now, according to police, an autopsy showed that the baby was born alive and then died of asphyxia by undetermined means. Snelling reportedly told police that she gave birth to that boy around four o'clock in the morning and she didn't think the baby was breathing or alive. She also said that she was awake for about a half hour and then she fell asleep on top of the baby. When she woke up, she said the baby had turned blue and purple and she reportedly said that she didn't know what was going on. She said that she didn't know what was going on. She said that she did not think the baby was alive. She then said she wrapped the baby like a burrito, laid next to it in what she called a moment of comfort, and then left. She also reportedly cleaned up the blood in her room with paper towels and put the placenta in a Ziploc bag. Now, even though, again, she just went through this major medical event and she has her son who is dead, Snelling, left the house to go to class. Then she said she didn't actually end up going to school. She didn't end up going into the classroom, but she sat in a car. And court documents say she ordered McDonald's through the McDonald's app. Now, while all of this was happening, there appears to have been multiple roommates in the home. And around the time Snelling reportedly said that she gave birth, one of her roommates texted a Snapchat group that they thought they heard something fall. And another roommate said that they thought they heard noises for roughly an hour. Now, after Snelling left for class, her roommates go into her room. And it appears that she never told them that she was pregnant. But they were suspicious. And when they entered the room, they allegedly found a blood-soaked towel and a plastic bag containing evidence of childbirth. And they also found that baby boy. And that's when they called the police. Now, Snelling eventually went to a hospital. And it is there she allegedly told doctors, according to court records, based on the best-selling novel. I was hired to help. Verity, right? Verity had a car accident. She'll never walk or talk again. On October 2nd, discover the truth. This place is insane. Yeah. Here you are. about Verity. She was standing right there. She can't walk. I know what I saw! Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett. I feel like I'm losing my mind. Morning, darkness ahead. Verity, directed by Michael Showalter. Rated R. Under 17, animated without parent. October 2nd. Star Wars The Mandalorian and Grogu is now. Streaming on Disney+. What are you waiting for? Hop on. The must-see galactic adventure comes home on Disney+. This is the way. Our only chance is to work together. I like this kid. Always wear your seatbelt. Star Wars The Mandalorian and Grogu. Now streaming on Disney+. Rated PG-13. records that the baby displayed, quote, a little bit of. a fetal movement. And he made a, quote, whimper. And she, quote, guessed the baby was alive. Now, those statements, you can tell, very important from a legal perspective as this case goes forward. But it's also a bit different from what she allegedly told police according to court documents. Now, on top of the physical evidence, there appears to have been a good amount of digital evidence against Snelling. Police say that they have images of Snelling that show him that she allegedly took during labor that she then deleted. Police said in a request for a search warrant for her social media accounts that they could, quote, contain current or deleted information that relates to Ms. Snelling's pregnancy to the birth of the full-term baby and ultimately its potential demise. End quote. A grand jury heard Snelling's case in January and the indictment came down in March and that included a charge of first-degree manslaughter. That took the case to an entirely new level. The indictment read on the count of first-degree manslaughter, quote, she caused the death of the infant or with the intent to cause the death of the infant under circumstances which do not constitute murder because she acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance or through circumstances not otherwise constituting the offense of murder. End quote. WKYT television spoke with the Commonwealth attorney about how the grand jury landed on manslaughter as the charge against Snelling and Kimberly Baird reportedly said the grand jury was given information about the four levels of homicide in Kentucky and the grand jury decided first-degree manslaughter was the best fit based on the evidence in this case. So you can see there, prosecutors had a pretty strong case against Lakin Snelling and then we go to today and this is what happened when her case came before the judge. Here is Lakin Snelling. She's at the podium with her attorneys by her side. So, Mr. Lowry, what are we doing today? We're prepared to enter a plea today. All right. Ms. Lakin, your attorney has indicated to me that it is your desire today to change your plea from not guilty to guilty based on the Commonwealth's recommendation. Is that correct? Yes, ma'am. Before I accept your plea, one, I need to make sure you know what you're doing and two, I need to make sure this is your free involuntary act and no one's forcing you into that. So in order for me to get there, I need to ask you a series of questions. Thank you. So if you wouldn't mind raising your right hand for me, do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? All right. You're a little low speaking here. I'm going to need you to speak up. Well, I'm going to have to put on these little hearing aid things for this courtroom so I can hear you. Okay. Cause we need to get this all recorded. So I need you to speak up for me. Okay. First of all, tell me your full name, your age and your birthday. That was a bombshell moment. No doubt about it. And Lakin Snelling is pleading guilty. And that includes that manslaughter charge, which could include serious prison time, which we'll talk about here in a second. As this hearing went on, the judge asked for information like Lakin Snelling's birthday and address. And then the judge broke down what Snelling is admitting to. And are you the same person named in indictment 26 CR 209 that charged you with manslaughter in the first degree, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant? Have you suffered in the past or have you currently been treated for any mental illness? Are you sick or ill in any way today? Are you taking any drugs or medication that would affect your ability to understand what you're doing today? Have you had all the time you need to talk to your attorney? And are you satisfied with your attorney? Have any complaints regarding his representation of you? The judge finishes going through some of the procedural questions and then wants Lakin Snelling on the record talking about what she did. Tell me what you did. I was under a lot of emotional stress and my baby came unexpectedly. And instead of helping him, I ended his life. Okay. I ended his life. How did you end his life, B? I deprived him of oxygen. Okay. All right. And did you tell me about this tampering with physical evidence? What did you do with the evidence that could have been collected? I put the towels in a plastic bag. Okay. And what about this concealing the birth? I didn't tell anyone after. Okay. That is Snelling, in her own words, making a shocking admission in court. And Snelling agrees to everything. That has been alleged against her for more than a year. The judge asked prosecutors what they want for a punishment, and this is what they said. What is the recommendation from the Commonwealth as it relates to Ms. Snelling? As to count one, manslaughter in the first degree, 10 years as charged. Count two, abuse of a corpse, one year as charged. Count three, tampering with physical evidence, one year as charged. And count four, concealing the birth of an infant, 12 months as charged. So just so we're on the same page here, we're talking potentially 10 years in prison for manslaughter. And then you have one year apiece for the remaining four counts. You have abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant. Lake and Snelling will be sentenced on October 16th. Join us now to talk more about this and what could happen next. Criminal defense attorney, Sky Lazaro, always great to have you here on Law and Crime. Just, it's a terrible story, you know, and it looks like now Lake and Snelling, will be headed to prison, um, to some extent, uh, looking up at. Based on the best-selling novel. I was hired to help Verity write. On October 2nd, discover the truth. Yeah. Here you are. About Verity. She can't walk. I know what I saw. Directed by Michael Showalter. Rated R. Under 17. Animated without parent. October 2nd. Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is now streaming on Disney+. Hop on. This is the way. I like this kid. Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. Rated PG-13. And Kentucky law. Mandatory between 10 and 20 years. Prosecutors asked for 10, which would be the minimum of the mandatory. What do you make of the potential punishment for Lakin Snelling after what we saw today in court? Yeah. First of all, this is a really, really tragic case. And we heard from Lakin in her own words today when she had to tell the judge what exactly she did to satisfy the elements of the case. Yeah. of the crime, that the baby was born alive and that she restricted his breathing or essentially asphyxiated him and that was the cause of death. What we're going to see at sentencing is she pled essentially to everything in this case. She pled to every charge, the manslaughter being the lead charge and carrying a possible prison sentence of 10 to 20 years. Sounds like, my guess is the prosecution's asking for 10 because she took responsibility and pled to everything, but ultimately this is going to be up to the judge. She's going to go do a pre-sentence report. They're going to come back for sentencing. There's a lot that's probably going to go into this sentencing. People can write letters on her behalf. Victims have the right to be heard or a representative. I don't know if the father of the baby's family is involved in any way, but they would have a right to be heard possibly at sentencing. Ultimately, this will lie with the judge how much time she's going to do. What did you make of just how this went down today? Because this was supposed to be, or at least who knows what the prosecutors knew ahead of time. They seem prepared, but as far as the docket, this was going to be a status hearing and then it's changing her plea from not guilty to guilty and then we hear her in her own words for the first time. As somebody who's a criminal defense attorney, what's the coordination that goes into what we saw play out in the courtroom today? These are interesting because the public doesn't get much of a heads up on these because there'll be a status hearing. These conversations, she has very good defense lawyers. These conversations, they were clearly well known to the judge as well today when we watched the hearing, but these conversations have probably been going on for quite some time. Every once in a while, you do get a case where all of a sudden the prosecution is like, here's the deal. I'll take it or leave it. You have to make a decision quickly. Usually in a case like this, especially one that's had some media and has been followed quite extensively, they've been having these conversations. Sometimes it takes a long time to get your client to a place where they can accept responsibility and get up and say the words that they need to say to change their plea. So I don't think this is too out of the blue. I would think that these conversations have been ongoing probably for quite some time between the state and the defense team. And it was just, you know, today, Lakin was prepared to go in there and change her plea and be able to say the things to the court to satisfy the elements. You know, it's hard to understand, and I don't know if we ever will, having covered this case, why all of this happened and some of the decisions that she made after giving birth. And then even it seems that she kind of hid this pregnancy from people around her. Why did she do that? Today, she said something along the lines that she was under intense emotional pressure at the time. How did she come off to you? What did you see when you watched Lakin Snelling in court today? She was very sad. I think this has become very important. Real for her. It's, you know, these cases are interesting. She's young, first of all. You know, she's 22 years old now. This case has been going on for a little bit. You know, she's outlined that she was under, you know, this emotional distress. It's probably not enough to be helpful. And I say that in terms of having a mental health diagnosis that would be able to lower this down to a lower level crime based on a diminished capacity. You know, but, you know, she was broke down and was sad. And these cases are interesting. And watching her today, I've seen people go through this. It gets real, real, real fast when they have to get up there and say it in court. You know, it's one thing, you know, something bad happens or they do something bad. And a lot of people do things to cover it up. I don't think that that's uncommon. And we see that a lot in the criminal, in the criminal world. But, you know, today, it seemed very real to her that she had really, she was understanding, at least what she did. And, and, and seemed she was pretty upset about it. I mean, she broke down in tears. I don't think that those were forced tears. Now, whether she's sad about what happened, or she's sad about going to prison, remains to be seen. But she clearly was emotional today. yeah and it just you know there's kind of this because i was wondering you know yes ma'am no ma'am you know she was kind of answering these questions from the judge and this was before the judge turns to the commonwealth's attorney and says you know what are you recommending and then when you heard like 10 years in prison and you realize that that's the mandatory minimum it was this moment of like she is going to do some pretty serious prison time how do you because i mean for her attorneys to get to the point where they say we're not going to take this to trial this is this is probably the best bet at this point and it did seem like there was some pretty strong evidence against her in this case like how do you deliver that news to your client where there's this realization of like you know especially based on the best-selling novel i was hired to help verity right bernie had a car accident she'll never walk or talk again on october 2nd discover the truth this place is insane yeah here you are about verity she was standing right there she can't walk i know what i saw anne hathaway dakota johnson josh hartnett i feel like i'm losing my mind mourning darkness ahead verity directed by michael showalter rated r under 17 animated without parent october 2nd star wars the mandalorian and grogu is now streaming on disney plus what are you waiting for hop on the must-see galactic adventure comes home on disney plus this is the way our only chance is to work together i like this kid always wear your seat belt star wars the mandalorian and grogu now streaming on disney plus read pg-13 22 years old do you think of what life would be like at 32 i mean 32 i mean i'm far older than it now like i thought 32 was old when i was 22 years old right and like the idea that she's going to go to prison potentially for for that if not longer with the other charges like how what are those conversations like between an attorney and a client they're hard and that's why it takes a lot of trust uh and it takes building a really good relationship with your client in cases like this these cases are they're tragic they're heartbreaking you know they're difficult from every level you don't want to go to trial on it because there could be stuff out there that if the judge hears she's going to get maxed out you know that's you know there's there's cases where you just have to take responsibility and everybody everybody starts from especially if they've never been in trouble i don't want a felony and i don't want to go to jail i mean that's great nobody does right um so to get to work with somebody to get them to a place of accepting responsibility and accepting the fact that they are going uh to go to go to prison or go to jail or whatever it is for a long period of time i mean she's she's gonna be probably in her 30s by the time you know she's paroled and and life is going to be very different you know she she was a cheerleader she had all of this uh life in front of her and and it's it's taken a a different path uh that's you know she's gonna have to wrap her mind around and and those uh those discussions are hard they are very very difficult um and you know sometimes you never people never really get to a place where it's not real until they put the cuffs on them right it's just uh but they're they're hard conversations and but they're necessary conversations and i think if you're not having them with your client you know you're doing them a disservice you can't just lie to people and tell them what they want to hear and tell them there's no way they're going to prison uh ever and you know because that the shock of that is almost worse they need to prepare with their families they need to prepare mentally uh for what that's going to be like and and for someone as young as her it's it's not going to be easy i mean i there's no way that it's it's going to be easy for her she she comes from a very different world than most of the people she's going to meet in prison well and she's also been out um you know on bond as this entire process has been going on like after the the grand jury indicted her and that came down in march i think she posted a hundred thousand dollar bond um and she's been living with family in in tennessee and then you know post october 16th life is going to look so differently uh as we look ahead to that sentencing hearing you know i've seen cases where the you know there was a stalking case out of ohio and i just remember a very different case like the girl was going to not get any sort of prison time whatsoever really boofed it when it came to the time for her to make a statement in court and she was going to be in prison for a very short period of time and she was going to be in prison for a very short period of time and she was going to be in prison for a very short period of time and she was going to be in prison for a very short period of time and she was going to be in prison for a very short period of time and she was going to be in prison for a very short period of time in the courtroom that day, things can change. What goes into, if she decides to make a statement at the sentencing hearing, and we saw that emotion today in the courtroom, like what goes into actually writing that beyond just saying, I'm sorry about what happened? Yeah, you've got to be very careful when you write these, what you were talking about. I've had it go both ways. I've had people talk themselves into prison when we had agreements otherwise, and I put together this great sentencing memorandum about how great they were. And then they get up and completely, it just falls apart. That has to be a tough day. Yeah, it's awful. I mean, for them, but for you as well as the defense attorney, yeah. Yeah, it's awful. I never want anybody to go to prison either. And I've had people give very, very moving personal statements to judges. And I've had judges say to them, look, when you walked in here today, I had my mind made up that I was going to send you to prison, and I'm not going to. I'm going to give you a chance. And so, you know, I've had it go that way, too. And you're grateful for those days. But really, what these statements come down to, and some people, you know, you have the right to be heard. There are some people that I recommend just, we're not going to say anything. We're just going to rest on my arguments, the joint, especially where there's a joint recommendation, you know, and it's a reasonable recommendation. You know, I think this is a reasonable recommendation for her. She's young. She doesn't have any criminal history. The judge isn't aware of any, you know, major aggravating factors in this, unless AP&P highlights something that would, you know, garner sending her to prison longer. So there's people that you just say, hey, look, you have the right to be heard. You don't have to say anything. You can decline, and that's okay. Because some people just don't speak well in those situations. I mean, that's the reality. Even when you help them write it, they just don't, you know. But really, what needs to go into this is this can't be, you have to stay so far away from anything that sounds like, I'm sorry, because now I got caught, and I'm going to prison. And you've got to dig deep. And if you're going to say something, you've really got to. On October 2nd, discover the. Truth. Yeah. Here you are. About Verity. She can't walk. I know what I saw. Anne Hathaway. Dakota Johnson. Josh Hartnett. Morning. Darkness ahead. Verity. Rated R. Under 17. October 2nd. Star Wars. The Mandalorian and Grogu is now streaming on Disney+. Hop on. The must-see galactic. The galactic adventure comes home on Disney+. This is the way. I like this kid. Star Wars. The Mandalorian and Grogu. Rated PG-13. To be genuine to the judge about how you understand how terrible this was. How terrible of an act this was. And how you live every day wishing you could do it over and wish you had your baby and things like that. It can't be really about her. It's got to be about the baby. And, you know, she can talk about what she's learned through this process and some things like that. But she's really got to be careful not to dive into, you know, basically, I'm sorry I got caught. Right. No, and that's, you know, kind of the interesting part of it. Because, like, being sorry can go a couple different directions. It's sorry that it happened. And then it's sorry that, you know, life is going to look so differently. And when you look at this case, and sadly, it's not the only case like this we've seen. I mean, this one's getting a lot of attention. But, unfortunately, we've seen a lot of similar cases like this before. The way that this played out, and you have those lesser charges, and I think there's three lesser charges. And we'll see if those are concurrently, you know, run or how that plays out. But for her to come away from this, potentially serving 10 to 13 years, as opposed to what could be more than 20. And then, of course, there was the, you know, maybe a jury could have in the 1% chance that a jury maybe saw that she was not guilty. I don't know if that would have been possible with some of the evidence that's been laid out. What do you make of the outcome here for her defense team and whether this was a good job? Yeah. You know, that's always hard for us because we don't see everything. We don't know what they know. You know, these were privately retained attorneys. I think they're well-respected attorneys if this were a case. And there's a lot of things that go into having a trial and deciding whether or not to go to trial or take a deal with your client. Sometimes clients just don't want to do it. Sometimes they get to a point where they're like, just give me the best deal. I can't do that. I can't do that to my family. I can't do that to alleged victims, whatever it is. But, you know, they've gotten her to a place. These are hard cases. These are prison cases. And that's what's so awful about them because, and these are so hard on you as a defense attorney because she's a young girl. You know, she's basically a kid herself. But she did something really terrible. And, you know. There's a part of you that it seems like prison is overly harsh. But whenever you've got a child that's severely harmed or a case like this where there really seemed to be some, at the time, some depravity to it, they are prison cases. I'm somewhat surprised that they let her out. I guess I'm not given her age on bond. It depends what state you're in. But I could see, you know, in a state like Utah, there's a very good possibility she would have been held without bail. Right. And, I mean, there's people, you know, it's always interesting in some cases because we'll have, I mean, there's murder defendants that are out there, you know, currently out on bond. And then there's, you know, other cases where it might be an armed robbery suspect. Not that that's great either. But, you know, where that person is held up, you know, they'll be in custody for a long time until trial. We'll see what happens next. October 16th is when Lake and Selling is going to be sentenced. Skyla's out. Zaro, criminal defense attorney. Always great to have you on Law & Crime. Thanks for being with us. Great to be with us, Chris. That will do it for On the Case, presented by Law & Crime. Subscribe to us on YouTube and Spotify. And we're also streaming on Peacock. I'm Chris Stewart. We'll see you next time.