Jury convicts Lakewood Ranch mother after fatal driveway crash killed toddler
A Manatee County jury found a Lakewood Ranch mother guilty of manslaughter after prosecutors said she backed over and killed her 2-year-old son in the family’s driveway.
After several hours of deliberation on Wednesday, jurors convicted Brittany Geiman, 33, in the March 2024 death of her son, Maverick, following a three-day trial before Circuit Judge Frederick Mercurio at the Manatee County Judicial Center in downtown Bradenton.
Prosecutors charged Geiman with aggravated manslaughter of a child, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years, but jurors instead convicted her of the lesser offense of manslaughter, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
The distinction appeared to weigh heavily on the jury. About an hour into deliberations, jurors returned to the courtroom with a written question asking: “What is the difference between aggravated manslaughter and manslaughter?”
The case also weighed heavily on Mercurio, who said he struggled with the defense’s last-ditch effort to have the charges dropped.
In a motion for judgment of acquittal, defense attorneys argued prosecutors had failed to prove Geiman’s actions rose to the level of culpable negligence required for a manslaughter conviction.
Mercurio signaled before the case went to the jury that he viewed it as unusually difficult. While ruling on the motion, Mercurio said it was “probably the single most difficult case” he had faced on that type of motion in his 14 years as a judge.
Mercurio ultimately allowed the case to go to the jury, citing testimony about Maverick’s physical limitations and a key witness’ account of prior incidents.
Lakewood Ranch mother convicted in ‘difficult’ case
At trial, prosecutors argued Geiman failed to make sure her toddler was safely inside the vehicle before backing out of the driveway, while defense attorneys said the child’s death was the result of an accident caused by a brief lapse in attention.
The case hinged largely on a surveillance video from a neighbor’s camera that captured the fatal 28-second sequence in the family’s driveway on Anchor Bay Trail in Lakewood Ranch.
Prosecutors argued the video showed Maverick never got into the SUV before Geiman backed out of the driveway. According to the state’s timeline, Geiman and Maverick came out of the house as her 6-year-old daughter ran to the open rear driver’s-side door. Prosecutors said Geiman closed the door, got into the driver’s seat and backed up without ever going to the passenger side or confirming Maverick was in his car seat.
As the Lexus SUV began moving, the video appeared to show Maverick run behind it. The vehicle struck him and rolled over him , according to surveillance video shown at trial.
During the prosecution’s closing argument, as jurors watched the video of the fatal incident in court, Geiman raised a hand to shield her eyes and lowered her head.
Moments later, the video showed Geiman get out of her vehicle and run toward Maverick, screaming as she realized what happened.
According to the arrest report, Geiman repeatedly yelled, “What did I do? I f***ing killed my child.”
Emergency responders pronounced Maverick dead at the scene.
Defense attorney Joseph Conza argued the brief timeline captured on video reflected a tragic mistake, not criminal behavior.
“These seconds of losing track of Maverick and thinking he was in the car when he wasn’t is not culpable negligence,” Conza said.
Prosecutors argue pattern of neglect in manslaughter trial
Dusnik countered that while 28 seconds might not be a long time to lose track of a child if “Maverick was playing alone in his bedroom” or “if he was somewhere safe,” the situation was different with a vehicle backing out of a driveway.
As part of their defense strategy, attorneys called psychologist David Diamond to testify about how stress and routine can affect memory.
Diamond told jurors the brain can create what he described as a “false memory,” causing someone to genuinely believe they completed a routine action they actually did not. Defense attorneys argued that when Geiman opened the car door and saw her daughter inside, she believed Maverick had already climbed into the vehicle.
Prosecutors pushed back on Diamond’s testimony, arguing that everyday stress does not excuse a caregiver from ensuring a toddler’s safety before moving a vehicle.
The defense also relied on expert testimony about the Lexus SUV’s safety systems. Accident reconstructionist Christopher Stewart testified Maverick fell into a blind spot where the rearview camera and ultrasonic sensors would not have detected him, meaning the vehicle’s automatic emergency braking system never activated.
Prosecutors did not dispute Stewart’s findings but argued the vehicle’s safety features did not replace a driver’s responsibility to check for a child before backing up, emphasizing that drivers are expected to use mirrors and visually verify their surroundings.
One of the prosecution’s key witnesses was Kristina Babcock, a dance teacher and theatre director at Jump Dance Studio in Bradenton, where one of Geiman’s children attended classes. From a sliding glass window overlooking the studio’s parking lot, Babcock testified she saw Geiman leave with her children on two occasions several weeks before the crash.
Babcock told jurors the children climbed into the rear driver’s-side door of the vehicle before Geiman got behind the wheel and drove away “instantaneously,” or within about 10 seconds. She said that was not enough time for the children to have been properly secured in their car seats.
Prosecutors used Babcock’s testimony to argue the fatal crash was not a one-time mistake but part of a pattern of Geiman leaving with her children without making sure they were buckled.
Jurors convict mother in toddler’s death
Defense attorneys challenged Babcock’s credibility, questioning how clearly she could see into the vehicle from inside the studio and noting she never reported the incidents to authorities despite being a mandatory reporter. They also pointed to inconsistencies in her statements, telling jurors she initially claimed the children were in the vehicle without car seats before later clarifying she meant they were not buckled into them.
The boy’s father, Bryce Geiman, also testified that Maverick would not have been able to secure himself in the vehicle. He told jurors the toddler could not open the car door on his own and was not physically capable of fastening the lower buckle on his car seat.
Prosecutors argued that meant Geiman would have needed to personally make sure the child was properly secured before backing out of the driveway — something they said the surveillance video showed she failed to do.
The dispute over that testimony became central when the defense later asked the judge to throw out the charges before the case went to the jury.
In the end, the jury rejected the defense’s argument that the crash was only an accident with no one responsible. But it also stopped short of convicting Geiman of the greater offense.
After the verdict, Mercurio revoked Geiman’s bond and remanded her into custody. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date, according to court records.
This story was originally published March 13, 2026 at 5:50 AM.
