Mom Gets 11 Years for Starving Disabled Teen to Death
Good Lord. Katherine Leonard of Illinois has been sentenced to 11 years in prison by Judge Joseph Condon for letting her 15-year-old disabled son starve to death. Seamus Leonard has cerebral palsy and was a quadriplegic. He technically died of pneumonia, but doctors argued that his malnutrition - he weighed a mere 23 pounds when he died - was a contributing factor. Prosecutors argued that mom, devastated by the collapse of her marriage in 2003, drank herself to oblivion while letting her son perish. In the meantime, she somehow managed to feed herself and keep her six other kids in reasonably good health.
No comment. Just…no comment.
(Hat tip: Ann Adams, who shouldn’t be embarassed by her name on the comment leaders board)
Tags: child, children, Death, disabled, palsy, parent, parenting, parents, sonRelated Stories
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2 opinions for Mom Gets 11 Years for Starving Disabled Teen to Death
ann adams
Sep 3, 2005 at 4:47 pm
I’ll stop being embarassed now. I honestly wasn’t trying for some kind of record.
Once again, where was everybody? My Elcie has been tracked since birth by public health, educational and medical authorities. When she had a bruise on her arm (caused by playing soccer on crutches) somebody noticed and asked. I’m grateful. She’ll never slip through the cracks.
I preach about the state staying out of our lives and/or parenting decisions but child protection laws and public health agencies should prevent this very thing. Surely this child didn’t exist in a vacuum. Someone must have known about him and his so called home.
I understand and sympathize with being physically, financially, or emotionally unable to care for a severely disabled child. I’ve been there. But that child was in her home. He deserved her love and care or he deserved to be placed with someone who would provide it. He never deserved starvation.
momma2mingbu
Sep 5, 2005 at 7:41 am
Wow. Absolutely disgusting. That poor kid weighed about as much as my 2 year old.