Roxanne Record was acquitted of first-degree murder but found guilty of manslaughter in China Record’s death.

BATON ROUGE, La. — A Baton Rouge grandmother was convicted of manslaughter after prosecutors said she forced her 4-year-old granddaughter to drink whiskey as punishment, leaving the child with a fatal blood alcohol level in April 2022.

Roxanne Record, 57, had faced a first-degree murder charge in the death of China Record, a child prosecutors said was singled out inside the family home. Jurors rejected the murder charge but found Record guilty of manslaughter after a three-day trial that centered on intent, household treatment and what adults did as the child became unresponsive.

The verdict followed testimony about a punishment that prosecutors said began after China was accused of taking a sip from a bottle of Canadian Mist whiskey left in the home. Assistant District Attorney Dana Cummings told jurors that Record made the girl get on her knees in a hallway and drink from the bottle. Cummings said China “didn’t have” the love and safety that a grandparent is expected to provide, telling jurors that Record “never liked her” and treated her differently from other children in the house. Defense attorney Caitlin Fowlkes told jurors the death was a tragedy, not murder, and argued the state could not prove the specific intent needed for a murder conviction.

Police were called to the family’s home in the 12000 block of Wallis Street in Baton Rouge on April 21, 2022, after a report that a child was unresponsive. Firefighters and emergency medical workers were already trying to save China when officers arrived. Authorities said the child died from acute alcohol poisoning. Police said her blood alcohol level was 0.680, far above the 0.08 legal limit for adult drivers in Louisiana. Prosecutors said the amount of alcohol in her body was not consistent with a small sip. The child was pronounced dead within about two hours of being forced to drink, according to the account presented in court. What remains unclear from the public record is the exact amount of whiskey China swallowed and how long adults in the home waited before calling 911.

At trial, prosecutors framed the fatal punishment as the last act in a wider pattern inside the home. Cummings said children in the household had been conditioned to call China’s taking of food or water “stealing.” She told jurors the words used by adults and children showed how the girl was treated before the night she died. Prosecutors said China was punished for basic needs and that Record viewed her differently from other grandchildren. The defense challenged the reliability of those accounts, pointing to differences in statements from children and other witnesses. Fowlkes said “no two witnesses say the same thing” about what happened and urged jurors to separate grief from proof of murder. She also said Record tried to perform CPR while on the phone with 911.

The case began as a murder prosecution against both Record and her daughter, Kadjah Record, China’s mother. Baton Rouge police said Kadjah Record watched the punishment and did not stop it. Investigators also said she gave inconsistent statements after the child’s death. Kadjah Record is being prosecuted separately on charges tied to the same death. Her next court appearance was scheduled for June 29. Roxanne Record’s conviction leaves her facing punishment under Louisiana’s manslaughter law, rather than the mandatory life sentence that would have followed a first-degree murder conviction. A sentencing date was expected later in the summer. The judge will decide the penalty after hearing from lawyers and, if allowed, from relatives affected by the child’s death.

Relatives have described the case as both a criminal prosecution and a family failure. China’s aunt, Ebony Record, said after the arrest that relatives knew there were problems in the home but did not stop them. “We all failed,” she said in a television interview. “I know what type of person my mom is. I know how my mom felt about China.” Her comments became part of the broader public understanding of the case, though prosecutors still had to prove the criminal charges in court. The Department of Children and Family Services said after the death that state law barred it from confirming or discussing any possible abuse or neglect investigation, a standard response in cases involving confidential child welfare records.

The trial also showed how the same set of facts can lead to sharply different legal arguments. Prosecutors said Record’s conduct showed cruelty and disregard for a small child’s life. The defense said the evidence showed a terrible, reckless act but not a planned killing. Jurors appeared to accept part of each argument, holding Record criminally responsible for China’s death while declining to convict her of murder. That split verdict now shapes the next stage of the case. Prosecutors secured a felony conviction tied directly to the child’s death, while the defense avoided the most severe charge. The remaining case against Kadjah Record keeps the legal focus on what other adults in the home saw, knew and failed to do.

The manslaughter conviction closed the first trial but did not close the case. Roxanne Record’s sentence will determine the punishment for the death jurors found she caused, while Kadjah Record’s pending case keeps the focus on what another adult in the home saw and failed to stop.

Author note: Last updated May 22, 2026.