Prosecutors said Katrina Mitchell, 31, was passed out drunk when the family dog mauled her infant daughter to death.
Mitchell has been pretty quiet throughout this whole case, and Wednesday in court was no different. The 31-year-old will be spending the next 3 months behind bars, the maximum sentence for endangering the welfare of a child.
In 2011, Katrina Mitchell's daughter was mauled to death by the family's rottweiler in their living room while Mitchell was reportedly drunk and asleep on a couch
Then in December 2012, she plead no contest to that child endangerment charge and faced the maximum 90 days in jail.
Mitchell's Attorney, Aaron Fethke said "It's an agreed upon sentence and it's certainly in the interest of my client to get it wrapped up and the best interest of the community to get this wrapped up today."
Both sides in this case agreed upon the sentence because a week prior to Mitchell's original plea, she was charged with theft and violation of release.
"She'll serve the 90 days then she'll begin a year probation with certain conditions including substance abuse counseling," said Fethke.
Although the state got the sentenced they asked for in this case, the Waldo County Deputy District Attorney, Eric Walker hoped for a longer sentence. "It has been a frustrating case in the sense that we always wanted a more serious charge then the endangerment but under Maine law there unfortunately is not another charge that fits the circumstances."
The problem? This case is the first of it's kind.
"When you sit down and try to compare it to other cases, they're just aren't cases of a similar nature," said Walker. The Deputy District Attorney continued "I hope some legislature takes note of this and realizes that this needs to be looked at again and to perhaps amend the law to fit a situation where a child is either killed or seriously injured because of neglect of a parent."
Police said Mitchell was also arrested in December for an Operating Under the Influence charge, but that was not taken into account on Wednesday's sentencing and there is no scheduled court appearance for that charge.
(WABI - Feb 6, 2013)
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