This women only gets 9 months in jail?
Mom Jailed; Handicapped Son, 5, Weighed 15 Pounds
(AP) CORTLAND, N.Y. A woman was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for starving her 5-year-old handicapped son, who weighed just 15 pounds when he was found in a playpen infested with cockroaches and lice.
Judy Gratton, 49, was convicted in January of assault and other offenses.
The boy, Harley Morgan, has Down syndrome. Several doctors testified that he had been starved for several months and was near death. A typical 5-year-old should weigh about 40 pounds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gratton and her live-in boyfriend, Joseph Kahn, were arrested during a drug raid at her home last March.
Two of the endangering charges involved Gratton's older children, a 12-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy who also were malnourished.
State investigators found that the Cortland County Department of Social Services missed repeated opportunities to prevent harm to the boy. County social workers made at least nine home and school visits in the six months before the raid.
Kahn, 45, pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and possession of marijuana, and was sentenced to nine months in jail.
(AP) CORTLAND, N.Y. A woman was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for starving her 5-year-old handicapped son, who weighed just 15 pounds when he was found in a playpen infested with cockroaches and lice.
Judy Gratton, 49, was convicted in January of assault and other offenses.
The boy, Harley Morgan, has Down syndrome. Several doctors testified that he had been starved for several months and was near death. A typical 5-year-old should weigh about 40 pounds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gratton and her live-in boyfriend, Joseph Kahn, were arrested during a drug raid at her home last March.
Two of the endangering charges involved Gratton's older children, a 12-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy who also were malnourished.
State investigators found that the Cortland County Department of Social Services missed repeated opportunities to prevent harm to the boy. County social workers made at least nine home and school visits in the six months before the raid.
Kahn, 45, pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and possession of marijuana, and was sentenced to nine months in jail.
