Ross was sentenced for malice murder as well as first degree child cruelty, the underlying felony. Additionally there was sentencing for the underage minor charges. In total, Ross received life without parole plus 32 years (to be served consecutively).
Since the judge made the sentences consecutive instead of concurrent, I'm not sure how anyone can come up with the speculation that the judge thinks this was an accident. Could she have made them concurrent if she had chosen to do so? If so, I'd say there's no way she thought this was an accident.