A former Minneapolis day care owner who pleaded guilty in February to attempting to hang a toddler from a noose in her basement was spared from prison on Monday and will serve a 10-year probationary sentence.
Hennepin County District Judge Jay Quam said there is “low risk” that Nataliia Karia will reoffend and that her actions were “the perfect storm of factors unlikely to ever be repeated.” He also said Karia’s case “was one of the hardest cases I’ve ever had. … There are no easy answers here,” according to the Star Tribune.
Karia admitted to hanging the 16-month-old boy before leaving her house in November 2016, before fleeing the house and hitting a pedestrian, another driver, and a bicyclist while driving her car. She was then getting ready to jump off a highway overpass when a group of passersby held her down until the police arrived and took her into custody.
A parent who was dropping off his daughter at the day care when Karia left found the toddler and rescued it from the noose. Doctors said the child was in good medical condition a week after hospitalization.
Karia said during the hearing that her husband had abused her and her children since they came to the U.S. from Ukraine in 2006, saying that he hit her and threatened to kill her, hurt the family financially, did not allow her to get medical attention, and made her work even though she was dealing with psychological issues. Her son also said his father had exhibited abusive behavior.
“I don’t want to push this terrible crime onto my husband. I just want to explain what happened,” she said, her words interpreted to English, according to the Tribune. “Your Honor, my children need me. … Give me a chance to resume a normal life.”
Karia must undergo mental health treatment and two months of electronic home monitoring. She will live with her son, an adult, but is not allowed to have unsupervised contact with her daughters or other minors.
According to her attorney, Brockton Hunter, Karia already has spent 20 months in jail since the incident and will get credit for the time served. He added that she will leave jail no later than Tuesday, CBS News reports.
