Staff photo / Ed Runyan Adrianne L. Hudson, 33, of Ridgelawn Avenue was handcuffed and later taken to the Mahoning County jail Thursday after Judge Maureen Sweeney sentenced her to five to 7 1/2 years in prison in the drowning death of 21-month-old Londyn Cayson in 2023. Her attorneys, Tom Zena, left, and Lou DeFabio, are on either side.

YOUNGSTOWN — Rochelle Hudson, whose 21-month-old daughter Londyn died by drowning in a babysitter’s backyard pool Sept. 29, 2023, said it’s hard to “wake up every single day knowing my child is gone while you continue living your life as though nothing ever happened.”

With many of her family and friends seated behind her in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, she said, “Every birthday missed, every holiday destroyed, every moment where silence replaces laughter that she still exists.

“And while I have been sentenced to a lifetime of mourning, you have been given delay after delay, excuse after excuse, opportunity after opportunity. How is that justice?”

She was referring to Adrianne L. Hudson, 33, of Ridgelawn Avenue, Rochelle Hudson’s cousin, who was sentenced to the agreed-upon sentence of five to 7.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and felony child endangering as a result of Londyn drowning in Adrianne L. Hudson’s pool while Adrianne Hudson was babysitting the girl.

One of the delays Rochelle Hudson was talking about was the decision of Adrianne Hudson to ask for and be allowed to rescind her guilty plea last year. Rochelle Hudson said Thursday that the episode allowed Adrianne Hudson to “walk free for another entire year.”

Adrianne Hudson pleaded guilty again Tuesday to the same offenses as the first time with a sentencing recommendation this time that was the same as what Judge Maureen Sweeney promised during earlier plea negotiations.

Rochelle Hudson expressed her frustration with the more than two years that have gone by since her cousin was indicted in the case in January 2024.

“For me, there is no continuance from this pain. There is no postponing from the emptiness at the dinner table, no reset button, no second chance, no freedom,” Rochelle Hudson said.

After the hearing, Assistant Mahoning County Prosecutor Daniel Yozwiak said he thinks “justice was finally achieved in a sense for the family. I feel like now they can finally move on, have a sense of closure. In that sense, I am happy. Obviously, there is no outcome that is going to replace the loss of a life.”