A Texas woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in the 2022 death of her 12-year-old stepson, marking the end of a tragic case that was initially delayed by legal and technical errors.
Kapri Cheatom, 31, received the maximum sentence allowed under her plea deal after being found guilty of first-degree injury to a child causing serious bodily injury. Her sentencing follows the October 2025 conviction of the boy’s father, Derrick Coles, who is currently serving a 45-year prison sentence on multiple felony charges related to the abuse.
The case began on February 6, 2022, when emergency responders were called to a home following reports that 12-year-old Danilo Coles had been injured in a shower fall. However, hospital staff quickly flagged the boy’s injuries as entirely inconsistent with a slip-and-fall accident. Medical workers discovered internal bleeding, whipping marks, and severe trauma to his buttocks. Danilo was declared brain-dead and died that same day.
An investigation revealed that Danilo had recently moved in with his father and stepmother after his mother lost custody due to separate abuse allegations. Investigators found that the couple routinely punished the boy for what they described as disrespectful behavior. The punishments included beatings, being struck with a belt, and being forced to hold heavy boxes over his head. If Danilo could not hold the boxes, he was forced to do push-ups. He was also made to repeatedly write “I will obey all people in the household” in a notebook.
READ: Kidnapped Family Saved By Teen With Box Cutter: Indiana Man Gets 20 Years
The medical examiner ultimately ruled the death a homicide, determining the specific cause of death to be toxicity brought on by extreme overexercising.
The road to the conviction faced major administrative roadblocks. Charges against Cheatom were initially dropped three months after the boy’s death because Texas law mandates an indictment within 90 days of an arrest. The case stalled for a year until officials revealed that a technical glitch had blocked the final autopsy report from reaching the prosecutor’s files on time. The Bexar District Attorney’s Office later confirmed that while the medical examiner had sent the report, a system error prevented it from properly attaching to the case files.
Once the paperwork was resolved, both Cheatom and Derrick Coles were indicted in September 2023.
At the sentencing hearing, Judge Joel Perez addressed Cheatom directly regarding her failure to intervene or stop the escalating violence in the home. “The injuries to this child are too extensive to not have noticed, to not have known, to not have done something about it,” Perez said. “You failed to protect this 12-year-old boy.”
Cheatom will receive credit for the time she has already spent in jail since her arrest. Under Texas sentencing guidelines, she will become eligible to apply for parole after serving half of her 20-year term.
Please make a small donation to the Tampa Free Press to help sustain independent journalism. Your contribution enables us to continue delivering high-quality, local, and national news coverage.
Sign up: Subscribe to our free newsletter for a curated selection of top stories delivered straight to your inbox
