Mom Pleads Guilty To Child Abuse, Released
POSTED: Tuesday, December 30, 2008
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A woman was sentenced Tuesday to time served for her role in the confinement of her son, then 9, who authorities say was kept locked in his bedroom for almost three years and monitored by a video camera.
Earlier in the day, Michelle Piercy pleaded guilty to child neglect and told prosecutors that the 809 days she had spent in jail were less stressful than living in the home her husband turned into a prison for their son.
Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper accepted a prosecutor's recommendation that she be sentenced to the more than two years she's already spent behind bars, and she was released from custody. It was the completion of a plea agreement for Piercy's testimony against her husband.
Randall Piercy was sentenced earlier this month to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated child abuse. Michelle Piercy is seeking a divorce.
Assistant State Attorney Julie Schlax said an important reason for the deal was her willingness to testify against her husband. As part of the agreement, Schlax dropped an aggravated child abuse charge against Michelle Piercy.
The Piercys were arrested in October 2006 after police, posing as real estate investors, twice found the child locked in his bedroom with a two-liter bottle to urinate in. Cameras monitored him in his room and while he was allowed to leave the room to prepare something to eat. The boy was placed in foster care.
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