Staff photo / Ed Runyan Brianna C. Zagotti, 31, was handcuffed after a jury found her guilty of child endangering Thursday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Her attorney, at right, is Aaron Meikle.

YOUNGSTOWN — Jurors found Brianna C. Zagotti, 31, of Austintown, not guilty of involuntary manslaughter Thursday but guilty of child endangering following a two-day trial in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

The charges relate to the July 6, 2023, or July 7, 2023, death of her son, Amari, who was almost 2 years old when he was found unresponsive in his bed in the family’s home in the Compass West Apartments. His death was the result of a fentanyl overdose, autopsy results indicated.

Zagotti could get up to three years in prison when Judge Maureen Sweeney sentences her later. Zagotti could have received more than 10 years in prison if she had been convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

After the verdict was read, the defendant was handcuffed and later taken to the county jail. Sweeney revoked Zagotti’s bond.

The first witness Thursday was Dr. Thomas Gilson, chief medical examiner at the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office, who conducted the autopsy. Gilson testified that he found the boy to be “normal size” for his age, and there were no signs of trauma on his body. But his lungs had fluid in them, and that is a symptom of having suffered an overdose death, Gilson said.

Gilson sent blood and urine as well as pieces of several organs for toxicology testing, and the results came back for fentanyl — 20 nanograms per milliliter — in the boy’s system. Gilson said that was a fatal amount, a “very high level.”

A concentration of 3 nanograms per milliliter is sufficient to cause death, he said.

Under questioning by county Assistant Prosecutor Patrick Fening, Gilson said that because of the amount of fentanyl in the boy’s system, he would have died in “a few minutes.”

Under cross examination by Aaron Meikle, Zagotti’s attorney, Gilson said he cannot tell how the fentanyl got into the boy’s body, but the most likely way is that he ate it. “(You) don’t necessarily” see evidence of a child eating fentanyl in his or her digestive system, Gilson said.

Later Thursday, Austintown Police Det. Sgt. Lea Rozzo testified about the investigation she carried out into the boy’s death. She testified that she received a tip that Zagotti and Amari’s father had been at the Waffle House in Girard just before they made the 911 call about the child being unresponsive.

Rozzo went to the restaurant with photos of the couple and showed them to someone at the restaurant, and the person was able to provide surveillance video showing the couple arriving at the restaurant about 12:02 p.m. and leaving about 12:27 p.m. It is about a 12-minute drive from the Waffle House to their apartment, Rozzo said.

Rozzo interviewed Zagotti three times starting with the day Amari died and two other times after that, and she never mentioned having gone to the Waffle House prior to calling 911, which was at 12:45 p.m., Rozzo said. Zagotti said she was at home all morning, Rozzo testified.

After showing Zagotti the video of the couple at the Waffle House, she admitted to being at the restaurant, Rozzo said. But then she said that a neighbor had been checking in on Amari, saying the neighbor “peeks her head in.” It was the first time Zagotti had mentioned a neighbor, Rozzo said.

Zagotti testified Thursday also, saying she had “no idea” how her son got fentanyl in his system. She admitted that there was vomit in the garbage can in her bathroom from the night before her son was found unresponsive and that it was hers.

Under questioning by county Assistant Prosecutor Caitlyn Andrews, Zagotti said she thinks she put her son to bed at 11 p.m. the night before he was found unresponsive. She said she did not know where the drugs came from.

When asked if she checked on her son between 11 p.m. July 6, 2023, and 12:45 p.m. July 7, 2023, Zagotti said she “peeked in” on him several times but did not check more thoroughly until the final time.