COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A 24-year-old Colorado Springs woman has been sentenced to 30 years in prison in the starvation death of her 6-week-old baby boy last year.
The Gazette reports that Donica Mirabal was sentenced Tuesday by Fourth Judicial District Judge Marla Prudek. Mirabal had pleaded guilty in September of negligently causing Zayden Ostrander's death in February 2017.
Defense attorneys said Mirabal has an intellectual disability and suffered longstanding abuse by her husband and co-defendant, John Ostrander.
Prosecutors suggested Mirabal exaggerated her history of abuse and argued that she knew or should have known her child was dying of malnourishment.
John Ostrander, who also pleaded guilty to negligently causing Zayden's death, was sentenced in July to 32 years in prison.
The couple's remaining two children are in the custody of relatives.
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Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazette.com
