Ohio Woman Gets 15 Years To Life In Grandson's Beating Death
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio woman who acknowledged having struck her grandson after initially asserting that the child was fatally injured while imitating a superhero has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
Yisenya Flores, 47, of Toledo, pleaded guilty earlier this month to murder and child endangerment in the September 2019 death of 5-year-old Anjuan Hare III.
Prosecutors said Flores told emergency responders the child had jumped from a bed because he wanted to fly like Spider-Man, but his injuries weren't consistent with such an accident.
Flores eventually admitted that she had struck the boy the previous day and he then became lethargic, semi-responsive and couldn't get up from the floor. However, she didn't call 911 until the next evening. An autopsy determined the boy died from multiple blunt-force trauma injuries.
Defense attorney Ronnie Wingate said during Friday's sentencing hearing that his client had months earlier stopped taking multiple prescription medications for mental health because of their cost, the Toledo Blade reported. He said she never intended to harm the child.
Prosecutors, however, argued mental health wasn't the sole issue and the boy's injuries couldn't have come from one isolated incident, and the judge agreed.
The child's mother, Crystal Peralez, tearfully she wanted justice for the child but also felt she was losing her own mother to prison. She told her mother that she loved her but also said "I'm not happy about your sentence, but I'm not sad about it either."
Flores apologized to her daughter and other family members through a video conference call from the Lucas County jail.
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