Channel Yonko was sentenced to life without parole this week after jurors rejected her insanity defense in the October 2024 killing of her infant daughter, Hannah

Hannah Yonko, Channel Yonko

A Houston mother has been convicted of capital murder for fatally stabbing her 17-month-old daughter and throwing her from a hotel balcony.

Channel Yonko was found guilty Friday in the death of her daughter, Hannah Yonko, according to KHOU, KTRK and Houston Public Media. Prosecutors say the killing happened in October 2024 when Yonko threw the toddler from a third-floor balcony at a hotel in Galveston, per the outlets.

“I’m not a crier, but the first time I went through the evidence it got me tearing up,” Assistant District Attorney Michael Rinehart said, per KHOU. “It was definitely an emotional case.”

Jurors rejected arguments from Yonko’s defense team that the woman was legally insane at the time of the killing. They deliberated for less than an hour before returning a guilty verdict, per the outlets.

“It’s such a sad case and I kept on thinking of Hannah,” Juror Jeanie Tinkle said, according to KHOU. “We all wanted to give [Yonko] the benefit of the doubt, but we couldn’t get there.”

Because the victim was younger than 10, per the outlets, Yonko was slapped with an automatic life sentence without the possibility of parole under Texas law after prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty.

Officers responding to reports of an abandoned child around 9:45 a.m. on Oct. 23, 2024 found the girl on the pavement in the 3300 block of 59th Street just off Seawall Boulevard, per a Galveston Police Department press release. Hannah was found bleeding, but still alive, on the pavement outside the hotel and rushed by EMS to the trauma center at the University of Texas Medical Branch, per a press conference held by the department.

She was pronounced dead a short time later, according to police and previous PEOPLE coverage.

The toddler had suffered three puncture wounds, per a probable cause affidavit reviewed by PEOPLE. Hotel surveillance footage showed the child falling from the hotel balcony, per the court documents. Police also recovered a bag from a hotel garage trash can containing a “skinning” knife, toys and children’s snacks, per previous PEOPLE coverage.