Matthew and Samantha Dylewski received the maximum sentence of 16 months to four years in prison after pleading guilty to criminally negligent homicide in the 2025 death of their daughter Joycelynn.
The couple was sentenced Monday in Saratoga County Court for the death of their 3-year-old daughter in their Corinth, New York apartment on Feb. 19, 2025. First responders found the girl unresponsive, and she was pronounced dead at the hospital. Her death was ruled a homicide due to severe neglect.
Joycelynn suffered from an extreme lice infestation that caused anemia, along with black and rotten teeth. She had clonidine, a blood pressure medication she was never prescribed, in her system. The apartment was filled with trash, dead insects, and clogged sinks, and it was later condemned.
Joycelynn was the only one of five children in the home who received no medical care in the final 10 months of her life. The Dylewskis were also ordered to have no contact with their surviving children until June 2038.
State lawmakers proposed Joycelynn's Law after the sentencing to raise the maximum penalty for criminally negligent homicide to 20 years.