Thursday, December 21, 2006
YOUNGSTOWN -- A 22-year-old woman whose resentencing on a manslaughter charge was ordered by the 7th District Court of Appeals received Wednesday the same 10-year sentence she got in November 2005.
Judge Maureen A. Cronin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court again gave Jennifer Wolfe, of Austintown, the maximum sentence for involuntary manslaughter in the Oct. 22, 2003, death of her 2-year-old son, Jesse, who Judge Cronin said was malnourished and badly bruised.
The toddler was pronounced dead at Forum Health Northside Medical Center, and the Trumbull County coroner ruled his death a homicide by asphyxiation.
The appeals court ruled that Wolfe was sentenced under provisions of state law the Ohio Supreme Court declared unconstitutional while Wolfe's appeal was pending.
Under the old law, judges had to explain in court why they were giving the maximum sentence, mentioning findings such as the family relationship and the seriousness of injury to the victim.
But the state Supreme Court ruled that those findings were to be made by a jury and not by a judge.
The appellate court told Judge Cronin to resentence Wolfe within the range allowed by state law, but without making such findings.