Insets (left to right): Carley Dials and Sean Perrin (Franklin County Sheriff”s Office). Background: News footage of the Columbus, Ohio, apartment complex where Cartier Smith fatally shot himself (WBNS).
An Ohio mother will not face a trial after her 3-year-old son fatally shot himself with a firearm brought into the family’s home by her boyfriend.
Carley Dials, 30, pleaded guilty to obstructing justice and was sentenced Monday to six months of community control. She had initially faced charges of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment following the Sept. 22, 2025, death of her son, Cartier Smith. Dials was asleep in a bedroom with Sean Perrin, 32, when Cartier discovered a gun that she had attempted to conceal and accidentally shot himself.
Perrin, who brought the weapon to the apartment, pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and possessing a weapon under disability, a charge that applies to people legally barred from owning or carrying firearms. Prosecutors dismissed a second weapons-under-disability charge under the terms of his plea agreement.
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A report issued by the Columbus Division of Police said officers were dispatched after Dials called 911. Perrin left the apartment while she was speaking with emergency services. When police arrived, they found Cartier suffering from a gunshot wound. The child was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Perrin had been arrested in March 2025 for allegedly violating parole tied to a 2019 gun conviction. Police later took him into custody in connection with Cartier’s death.
Dials told investigators that she discovered Perrin’s gun on the bedroom floor at about 3 a.m. She said she placed it between the mattress and the wall before going to sleep. Police determined that Cartier was able to locate the weapon after entering the bedroom.
Perrin is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 10.
