Tiffany Coburn, Kenneth Lain, and Justin Miller.

A judge in Indiana handed down the maximum sentence to a mother charged in connection with the brutal death of her infant daughter. Marshall Superior Court Judge Matthew E. Sarber on Friday sentenced 32-year-old Tiffany Coburn to serve 30 months (two years and six months) in prison after a man she and her husband described as a “family relative” brutally murdered 11-month-old Mercedes Lain while babysitting in August 2021, court records reviewed by Law&Crime showed.

Coburn’s sentence means that all three of the adults charged in Mercedes’ death were handed maximum sentences.

Coburn and Mercedes’ father, Kenneth Robert Lain, last month both pleaded guilty to one count each of neglect of a dependent, a Level 6 felony, for endangering the life of their daughter by placing her in the care of 37-year-old Justin Miller.

Miller last year admitted that he “backhanded” the little girl in the head multiple times while high on synthetic marijuana then buried her remains in a shallow grave. He pleaded guilty to one count of murder and was sentenced to the maximum 65 years behind bars. As part of his plea agreement, Miller waived his right to appeal his sentence.

Like Kenneth Lain, Coburn will receive credit for the time she has already spent behind bars since her initial arrest last August. Under Indiana state law, individuals incarcerated for certain misdemeanors and low-level felonies can earn an “good time” credit, granting them an additional day off of their sentence for each day completed with good behavior. As such, the pair’s six months in jail have earned them approximately one year of credited time served. Thus, it is possible for them to both complete the entirety of their sentences after serving approximately nine more months in prison.

Mercedes Lain, as pictured in a silver alert.

The Marshall County Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sentencing from Law&Crime.

As previously reported by Law&Crime, investigators discovered Mercedes’ body on Aug. 18 in a densely wooded area in northern Indiana.

He then lied and told Lain and Coburn he had dropped Mercedes off at a neighbor’s home.

Coburn’s mother, Angie Owens, previously derided her daughter and Lain, reportedly telling The Daily Beast they are “definitely not good parents.”

“We tried everything in our power to get this baby taken away from them,” Owens continued. “We have called [child protective services] many times. There’s nothing more that we could have done than what we did. We have gone beyond our power in doing what we could to help this baby.”

Lain was previously convicted of neglect of a dependent in 2016 and was sentenced to two years in prison with one year of the sentence suspended. He was then ordered to serve the suspended year after violating the terms of his probation, court records show. Records show he has has also been convicted of several other felonies, many of which include methamphetamine possession.

[Images via Marshall County Jail, Silver Alert]

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