A Smithfield woman faces ten years in prison for killing her six-month-old daughter.

Twenty-two-year-old Sykeethia Towns originally was charged with murder but entered an Alford plea in Isle of Wight Circuit Court Wednesday to a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. An Alford plea means Towns acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict her but she maintains her innocence.

Nikayla Towns died at a local hospital in 2004 after being brought in because she wasn't breathing. Police later learned the baby had visited emergency rooms nine times for the same reason.

An autopsy in the baby's death was inconclusive, but the medical examiner's report said Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a psychological condition where caregivers try to attract attention to themselves by inducing an illness in a person under their care, couldn't be ruled out.

Police began investigating Towns when her second child started having the same health emergencies. She has since given birth to another child. Both of her children were placed in the care of Sykeethia Towns' mother.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 23.