Aurora mother sentenced five years for son’s death
January 6, 2015
Charlea Mills
An Aurora mother was sentenced to five years in prison for the death of her four-year-old son in the Barry County court system.
The Lawrence County case was moved to Barry County on change of venue request. Lawrence County Prosecuting Attorney Don Trotter initially charged 23-year-old Jade Murray with murder in the second degree and domestic assault after her son died in the hospital from a ruptured spleen on December 14, 2013.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, Murray had hit her son on the buttocks and back when he wasn’t obeying before losing her temper and she hit him again, “harder than she should have” according to her statement. The blow knocked the boy off of his bed where he then hit his back on his brother’s bed. There was a large bruise on his back where his spleen was.
Murray made a plea deal with Trotter for five years incarceration on the domestic assault charge and the murder charge being dropped. The plea bargain drew demonstrators to the Barry County Judicial Center last year, claiming the boy deserved more justice than five years for his death. Trotter told reporters that his death could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be murder because of the medical examination, and so he offered the plea deal so that Murray would serve time for the crime.
Murray will receive credit for time already served.
Charlea Mills
An Aurora mother was sentenced to five years in prison for the death of her four-year-old son in the Barry County court system.
The Lawrence County case was moved to Barry County on change of venue request. Lawrence County Prosecuting Attorney Don Trotter initially charged 23-year-old Jade Murray with murder in the second degree and domestic assault after her son died in the hospital from a ruptured spleen on December 14, 2013.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, Murray had hit her son on the buttocks and back when he wasn’t obeying before losing her temper and she hit him again, “harder than she should have” according to her statement. The blow knocked the boy off of his bed where he then hit his back on his brother’s bed. There was a large bruise on his back where his spleen was.
Murray made a plea deal with Trotter for five years incarceration on the domestic assault charge and the murder charge being dropped. The plea bargain drew demonstrators to the Barry County Judicial Center last year, claiming the boy deserved more justice than five years for his death. Trotter told reporters that his death could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be murder because of the medical examination, and so he offered the plea deal so that Murray would serve time for the crime.
Murray will receive credit for time already served.
