"Toddler John" WALTERS - 14 Months (2005) - Valparaiso (SE of Gary) IN

A woman was sentenced to 20 years in
prison on Friday for causing the death of her 14-month-old son in 2005.


Judge William Alexa accepted the guilty plea of Jessica R. Walters,
21, to Class A felony neglect of a dependent.

She could have served up to 50 years in prison if found guilty by a
jury.

Walters also will serve 10 years on probation after prison and, under
terms of her plea agreement, the state dropped a Class A felony charge
of battery.

Alexa said he was surprised that Walters laughed after he commented
that she had been caught trying to brew homemade liquor more than once
at Porter County Jail.

Autopsy reports state that the boy died of blunt force trauma to his
trunk, likely from squeezing or applied pressure.

Incidents that led to the death of her child happened throughout
November 2005, culminating with Walters' boyfriend finding him on the
floor next to his bed, not breathing.

Police tried CPR on the child while waiting for an ambulance to take
him to Porter Hospital Portage campus, and court records state that the
officers found no pulse or signs of breathing.

Officers observed that the head and neck were warm, but the child's
hand was cold.

Police also found a purple-tinted clear liquid on the floor where the
boy's head had been.

Walters originally told police the boy was sick the week of Nov. 10,
2005, but appeared to get better until Nov. 17, when it got "three times
as bad."

She received medicine from the emergency room on Nov. 20 but was
giving him less because he seemed to get better, she said.

When the autopsy showed the lower part of both lungs bruised, as well
as his diaphragm, Walters told police she probably held him down too
hard on Nov. 10 when giving him Tylenol for teething.

The autopsy also showed three broken ribs of different ages, two
healed; multiple contusions and internal bleeding of the large
intestine; and a tear in the membrane that holds the large intestine
together -- and that the membrane separated from the abdominal wall.


Walters told police she held the boy down with her arm across his
chest, elbow on his abdomen and hand under his chin when he fought
taking the medicine for the gum pain.