Woman Pleads To Manslaughter Of Autistic Boy Who Shot Self With Unattended Gun

A nonverbal autistic boy picked up a gun in his Michigan apartment. He accidentally shot himself, dying of his wound days later.

The 30-year-old woman who left the gun unattended while she was supposed to be watching 7-year-old Sevyn M. Ashworth has accepted a plea deal, one which will likely result in her serving prison time.

T-Keeyha M. Lane appeared before Saginaw County Circuit Judge Manvel Trice III and pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter, a 15-year felony. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to dismiss a charge of second-degree child abuse and two felony drug counts.

Lane’s advisory sentencing guidelines have been calculated at 19 to 38 months. Trice indicated he would cap Lane’s sentence at 19 months.

As she did not plead guilty, Lane did not admit to having committed a crime. Trice relied on documents to enter a conviction on the record.

About 12:20 a.m. on Oct. 31, 2022, police responded to Bavarian Village Apartments, 2826 Williamson Road, after receiving a report that Sevyn had suffered a gunshot wound to his head. Sevyn was taken to Covenant HealthCare, then transferred to the University of Michigan Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor.

Sevyn died there on Nov. 2, 2022.

Lane, a friend of Ashworth’s mother, was still present when police arrived. Prosecutors have said Lane was not in the apartment but on the property when the boy shot himself with her handgun. Lane did not legally own the gun, which police recovered.

Sevyn’s mother, Seville Ashworth, previously said she believed Lane had left the gun on a kitchen counter, where her son picked it up.

Ashworth said her son was diagnosed with autism and was nonverbal yet was adventurous with an affinity for climbing. He was a first-grader at M.G. Millet Learning Center in Saginaw.

Judge Trice is to sentence Lane on April 8.