(KNSI) — A Paynesville woman has been sentenced for letting her severely disabled child die.
Thirteen-year-old Kylie Larson had significant medical issues due to losing oxygen at birth, including spastic quadriparesis cerebral palsy, chronic respiratory failure and a severe developmental delay. She has needed around the clock care ever since.
Court records say between June 18th and June 21st, 2020, Elise Christine Nelson’s husband was on a fishing trip, and their other child was at a friend’s house. Nelson was home alone with Kylie, and during that time, the alarm on a monitor that kept track of her oxygen levels kept going off. Nelson repeatedly silenced it before adjusting the settings for when it would sound and then eventually removed Kylie from the machine and called 911. Kylie was rushed to Paynesville Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Prosecutors charged Nelson with one count of non-premeditated second degree murder with intent and one count of second degree manslaughter. In October of 2023, Nelson pled guilty to second degree murder, but filed a motion in January of this year to withdraw that plea, saying she received ineffective counsel and her plea was coerced. The judge disagreed and, in September, denied the motion, saying it was made “accurately, voluntarily, and intelligently.”
Judge Heidi Schultz sentenced Nelson to nearly 22 years in prison and ordered her to pay over $12,000 in restitution.
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