A Galveston County jury returned a guilty verdict Friday against Channel Yonko, a Houston woman charged with capital murder in connection to the death of her young daughter.

Galveston baby girl killed: Channel Yonko found guilty of murdering her 17-month-old daughter, sentenced to life without parole - ABC13 Houston

Court documents show Yonko received an automatic life sentence following accusations that she threw her daughter, 17-month-old Hannah Yonko, off the third-floor balcony of the Beachfront Palms Hotel in 2024.

Channel Yonko’s defense attorney, Margaret Hindman, did not immediately comment when contacted Friday by Houston Public Media. Court records show Hindman filed a notice of appeal after he client was found guilty.
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The jury weighed Yonko’s mental competency but rejected arguments from her court-appointed attorney that she was insane and believed she was possessed by demons when she threw her child off the balcony, The Galveston County Daily News reported.

Following her indictment on the capital murder charge in January 2025, several psychiatric evaluations were ordered for Yonko. Edward Gripon, a psychiatric specialist, last year determined Yonko was able to adequately state the role of positions in the legal process, and was able to give a detailed account of her time in Galveston leading up to her child’s death — ultimately finding her competent to stand trial.

In an interview with Gripon last year, Yonko denied a history of drug or alcohol consumption. Court documents show she also denied having medical conditions but stated she had a history with head trauma and experienced periods of forgetfulness.

Hannah Yonko could be seen on video falling to the ground from the hotel balcony in Galveston, according to court records. A probable cause affidavit asserts she had also been stabbed several times.

Galveston police around 9:45 a.m. Oct. 24, 2024 responded to calls of an abandoned child lying on the ground and bleeding in the 3300 block of 59th Street. She was discovered lying on the roadway unresponsive and transported to the University of Texas Medical Branch trauma center, where she was pronounced dead.

Detectives discovered a trash bag in a bin inside of the hotel parking garage containing a skinning knife with a black handle, plastic sand toys, diapers and a key card for the hotel room they were staying in, according to the affidavit.

Child Protective Services documents obtained by Houston Public Media detail an incident in 2019 when Channel Yonko’s other child was taken to the emergency room of a local hospital. The documents allege that Yonko and the father of that child appeared to be under the influence and in an “altered state.”

State prosecutors in September last year said they did not intend to seek the death penalty against Yonko. That decision was discussed in the middle of an evidence discovery hearing, Yonko’s attorney confirmed.

Former Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady previously said the office must consider the additional legal requirements in death penalty cases of mitigating circumstances and future dangerousness as well as the ability to prove all necessary legal elements beyond a reasonable doubt.

“The taking of a human life by government in the name of justice is the most serious decision anyone in the criminal justice system can make,” Roady said about the decision.

The district attorney’s office hasn’t sought the death penalty against a defendant since 2011. Travis Mullis, a Brazoria County man convicted of murdering his 3-month-old son along the Galveston seawall 16 years ago, was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit in September.