Parents get 8 years' jail for death of ailing son
Source: Agencies |
February 18, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
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THE parents of an 8-year-old American boy who died from Hodgkin lymphoma after suffering for months from undiagnosed swollen glands were sentenced to eight years in prison on Thursday following their guilty pleas to denying him medical treatment.
Attorneys for Monica Hussing, 37, and William Robinson Sr, 40, had said the parents had financial problems and tried to get checkups for their son but couldn't afford it.
The couple was given the maximum sentence by Cuyahoga County Judge Michael Astrab, who accepted their guilty pleas last month to attempted involuntary manslaughter in a last-minute plea deal before their trial was about to begin. They were handcuffed and taken into custody immediately. Both plan to appeal.
Hussing's sister, Shelia Slawinski, cried as she stood before the judge and gave voice to her nephew, Willie Robinson. "I told my sister," Slawinski said. "I offered to help my sister."
According to the prosecution's pre-sentencing memo to the judge, at least eight family members noticed Willie's deteriorating health over a period of more than two years and most spoke to the couple about it.
"Twenty-nine months he suffered," Slawinski said in Cleveland, Ohio. "Twenty-nine months they had to do something and they chose not to."
Asked outside court why her sister hadn't taken care of Willie and hadn't enrolled him or three siblings in school, Slawinski said it was easier for Hussing to stay in bed during the day and do drugs. Both parents have abused drugs, their attorneys earlier told the judge.
Attorneys for Monica Hussing, 37, and William Robinson Sr, 40, had said the parents had financial problems and tried to get checkups for their son but couldn't afford it.
The couple was given the maximum sentence by Cuyahoga County Judge Michael Astrab, who accepted their guilty pleas last month to attempted involuntary manslaughter in a last-minute plea deal before their trial was about to begin. They were handcuffed and taken into custody immediately. Both plan to appeal.
Hussing's sister, Shelia Slawinski, cried as she stood before the judge and gave voice to her nephew, Willie Robinson. "I told my sister," Slawinski said. "I offered to help my sister."
According to the prosecution's pre-sentencing memo to the judge, at least eight family members noticed Willie's deteriorating health over a period of more than two years and most spoke to the couple about it.
"Twenty-nine months he suffered," Slawinski said in Cleveland, Ohio. "Twenty-nine months they had to do something and they chose not to."
Asked outside court why her sister hadn't taken care of Willie and hadn't enrolled him or three siblings in school, Slawinski said it was easier for Hussing to stay in bed during the day and do drugs. Both parents have abused drugs, their attorneys earlier told the judge.
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