Mother Sentenced to Prison in Hypothermia Death of Son

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A suburban Minneapolis woman has been sentenced to nearly nine years in prison in the death of her 8-year-old son who was locked in a garage overnight during the winter.

Tasha Tennin, 39, was sentenced this week in Hennepin County District Court after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the 2018 death of Tayvion Davis.

With credit for time already served, Tennin will likely spend nearly six years in prison and the balance on supervised release, the Star Tribune reported.

Tennin’s plea agreement with prosecutors includes dismissal of the more serious charge of first-degree murder while committing child abuse.

According to court documents, Tayvion’s siblings told their foster parents that the boy got into trouble and was told by Tennin to sit in the garage at their Brooklyn Park home. Prosecutors said she locked the garage, and left the child there overnight in sub-zero temperatures.

On Feb. 1, 2018, Tennin called authorities because her son was unresponsive. First responders found Tayvion on the living room floor, cold to the touch, with no pulse.

A Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office autopsy report said the boy was wearing pajama bottoms, a crew-neck shirt, underwear and ankle-length socks when he spent the night in the garage.

Toxicology tests found a heightened level of glucose, consistent with death from hypothermia. An autopsy found 17 scars and lesions on his back.

___