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Mia Desiree Harris, 43, was sentenced to 9 to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to felonious assault in the shooting of her 5-month-old granddaughter in Liberty Township, Butler County, Ohio.

Harris lived in a townhouse on Dutchview Court, north of Cincinnati, with several family members, including her adult son, his partner, Destiny Buffington, and Buffington's daughter. Buffington was also described as Harris's daughter-in-law. Prosecutors said Harris had been smoking marijuana more heavily than usual and behaving erratically in the weeks before December 9, 2023. Her defense said she had suffered a breakdown. The infant survived her injuries and is not named here.

Butler County sheriff's deputies were called to the townhouse that night. Detective Daniel Turner of the Butler County Sheriff's Office testified that Harris dragged a family member out of bed and assaulted that person. Two people locked themselves in a bedroom with the infant. Harris fired several shots through the closed door, forced it open, grazed the baby's mother in the head with a shot and then shot the child as she lay on the bed. No one else was seriously injured.

The infant was struck on the right side of her face and taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital in grave condition. She spent 65 days in hospital and underwent three surgeries, with a fourth scheduled for 2025. She was left with paralysis on her left side, and her family said at sentencing that she will have special needs for the rest of her life.

Harris was arrested the same day and interviewed by Butler County Sheriff's Office detectives at the sheriff's office in the hours after the shooting. Turner led the questioning. He testified that Harris said "that was not my grandbaby" and "sorry, not sorry." Turner said she told detectives that her family was trying to take all of her money and leave her, that she would not allow it, and that her family had crucified her so she was going to crucify them.

A Butler County grand jury indicted Harris on three counts of felonious assault and one count of improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation. At her arraignment in January 2024, she pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Judge Daniel Haughey of the Butler County Court of Common Pleas ordered a forensic evaluation and set a competency hearing for February 27, 2024. Three court-appointed doctors examined Harris, and prosecutors argued that substance abuse, not mental illness, was behind the shooting.

Harris withdrew the insanity plea in September 2024 and pleaded guilty to one count of felonious assault with a firearm specification. The remaining counts were dismissed under the plea agreement. She was sentenced on October 29, 2024. Buffington told her in court, "You held a gun over me and I loved you. You hurt me, you hurt my whole family." The sentencing is the most recent development reported in the case, and no appeal has been reported.

The video is a police interview-room recording released by the sheriff's office and runs about 150 minutes. It shows the interview itself, without narration or a presenter.

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Part 2 of 3 of the recording described above.

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Part 3 of 3 of the recording described above.