An Arkansas woman who admitted to recklessly causing the death of her 2-month-old son has been ordered to eight years of probation in his death.
The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that Molly Sullivan pleaded guilty in April to manslaughter, admitting to recklessly causing the child’s death.
Sullivan was sentenced Thursday before Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren, according to the newspaper. The mother was also ordered to take parenting classes and be evaluated for drugs and alcohol.
Prosecutors had sought prison time for the mother.
Detectives with the Benton County sheriff’s office responded around 11:20 a.m. Oct. 28, 2016, to an address in the 23600 block of Coon Hollow Road in Decatur in reference to an unresponsive child.
Sullivan told authorities that she had woken up around 8:30 a.m. that day to hear her son grunting, prompting her to bottle feed him, change his diaper, rock him back to sleep and place him in his playpen.
After falling asleep again, the mother awoke to find the child blue and purple, she said.
Sullivan added that a couch pillow was in the playpen when she discovered him, telling detectives that she might have accidentally thrown one in.
Read the full story in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette here.
