Baby's father forgives Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling, 22, who is jailed for 10 years for smothering her newborn

Laken Snelling admitted in court she had 'deprived him of oxygen' and 'ended his life' after secretly giving birth in her off-campus apartment in August 2025 and suffocating the infant boy in a panic. Fayette County Circuit Court Judge Diane Minnifield sentenced her on Friday, telling Snelling she would have 'a lot of time' to sit with her crime and that she was not even eligible for probation.

The baby, named McCoy Cade Hall by his father, was discovered swaddled in a towel and concealed inside a trash bag in Snelling's closet after her roommates contacted police.

College quarterback Izaiah Hall, the baby's father, told the judge: 'I don't wish the worst on Laken. What happened is, it is what it is. I can't change it.'