Staff photos / Ed Runyan Brianna Zagotti, 29, is seen during her arraignment hearing Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on charges of involuntary manslaughter child endangering in the July 7 death of her 1-year-old son.

YOUNGSTOWN — An Austintown woman pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and felony child endangering in the death of her 1-year-old son July 6 or July 7 at a home on Compass West Drive in Austintown.

Brianna C. Zagotti pleaded not guilty before Magistrate Dennis Sarisky Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. She was among three people arraigned Tuesday on charges that involved a death.

Sarisky set Zagotti’s bond at $50,000, which is lower than the $75,000 Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Paris asked the magistrate to set. Paris asked for the $75,00 bond “based on the nature of the offense,” she said.

Zagotti’s attorney, Aaron Meikle, told the magistrate there was no reason to increase Zagotti’s bond from the $10,000 that was set in Mahoning County Area Court in Austintown, despite one of her charges being elevated from a third-degree felony to a first-degree felony at the time of her indictment.

Meikle told the magistrate Zagotti posted bond when the case began, and “none of the circumstances, none of the facts, nothing has changed. The facts are what they were at the lower level.”

Zagotti has a job and was planning to go to work right after the hearing, Meikle said. However, because Zagotti had to be booked at the county jail, she was taken into custody at the end of the hearing. Involuntary manslaughter is punishable by up to about 10 years in prison if convicted.

Austintown police said they found the boy deceased July 7 with a lack of obvious physical trauma. When they arrived, they found Zagotti and her boyfriend giving the child CPR. Testing later determined the presence of fentanyl in the boy’s system.

Zagotti told police the boy was last seen in good health about two hours earlier. Police said no narcotics were found in the apartment. The child had been dead for a couple of hours before he was discovered, police said.

FATAL CRASH

Also arraigned Tuesday was Kyashia D. Madison, 28, of Riblett Avenue, on 11 charges in an Aug. 16 East Side crash that killed a passenger in another car. Her bond was set at $100,000.

Madison was indicted on two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, three counts of aggravated vehicular assault, three counts of vehicular assault, one count of misdemeanor child endangering and two counts of driving under the influence. She could get more than 15 years in prison if convicted of certain charges.

Denasia R. Douglas, 19, of Cohasset Drive in Youngstown, a mother of two children, was killed in the 9:39 p.m. two-vehicle crash.

A news release from the Mahoning County Coroner’s Office said all of the other people involved in the crash were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Nine people were in the two vehicles.

Madison was tested and found to have a blood-alcohol level of .255, which is more than three times the legal limit in Ohio to drive of .08, according to a Youngstown police crash report.

Madison’s vehicle also was traveling an estimated 56 miles per hour in a 25 mph zone, the crash report states. She also was deemed to have committed “improper passing.”

The report states that Madison was driving east on Victor Avenue and trying to pass another eastbound vehicle in front of her when the other vehicle turned left toward a parking space in front of 1396 Victor.

The crash occurred when Madison’s 2007 GMC Yukon hit the driver’s side of a 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt driven by a Youngstown man, 18.

GINGRICH

Also arraigned was Matthew P. Gingrich, 33, of Bexley Drive in Austintown on two counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor or impaired person, five counts of illegal use of a minor of impaired person in nudity oriented material or performance and single counts of misdemeanor telecommunications harassment and nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images.

He pleaded not guilty and bond was set at $50,000. If he is convicted, Gingrich could get several years in prison.

SEX CHARGES

Also pleading not guilty was Willie J. Stanley, 54, of Spring Garden Court in Boardman to five counts of gross sexual imposition and five counts of disseminating matter harmful / obscene to a juvenile. Bond was set at $50,000. If convicted, he could get more than 10 years in prison.

erunyan@vindy.com