SAN DIEGO — A U.S. Coast Guard petty officer acquitted of first-degree murder charges in the death of her 5-month-old daughter has been released from the Miramar brig.
Kate Richard was convicted in 2022 of the lesser charge of manslaughter in the infant’s death. She spent two years behind bars before an appellate court overturned her conviction.
Richard, 27, walked out of the Miramar brig on April 18, four years to the day after she found her daughter, Scarlett, dead in a crib inside a home she shared with her husband in Kodiak, Alaska.
She was serving a six-year prison sentence at MCAS Miramar.
“The first night I got there, I was on the floor of a holding cell, cement with nothing around me on the ground in a fetal position, bawling saying I didn't do this. I shouldn't be here,” recalled Richard.
She spent nearly 800 days behind bars until her conviction was overturned on March 5.
“With the wrongful conviction, you lose – not only in my case my daughter, my only child – I lost my marriage. It broke apart my marriage. It broke apart many friends and acquaintances. My reputation with the Coast Guard is ruined,” Richard said.
The Coast Guard yeoman remains on active duty and spoke to CBS 8 via Zoom from a military base in Los Angeles.
Her conviction was based, in part, on Coast Guard Investigative Service interrogation video, and the fact that she admitted to investigators that she suffered from postpartum depression.
“I didn't kill her. I didn't hurt my daughter at all. And just because I had postpartum depression doesn't mean that I was a murderer,” said Richard.
An autopsy found the baby died of asphyxiation, a cause of death that can include Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), according to Richard’s defense attorney, Billy Little.
“The original finding was probable asphyxia. And the ER doctor said that he didn't see any red flags, and it looked consistent with a SIDS death, which has still not been rolled out,” said Little.
Richard said she would soon be transferred to a Coast Guard base in Virginia.
“This weekend, I (was) by the ocean watching the sunset, crying and crying and crying and crying because I couldn't save her. That still sticks in my head,” said Richard. “I've always devoted my life to helping save people and the one person I couldn't save it was my own daughter.”
The U.S. Coast Guard declined to comment on the case. Military prosecutors still have the option of re-filing manslaughter charges against Richard, though her defense attorney said that seems unlikely.
WATCH: Coast Guard mom speaks out after release from Miramar brig (extended interview excerpts):