Nataliia Karia is a 43-year-old ex-daycare owner from Minneapolis who was sentenced to 10 years of probation after attempting to murder a toddler by hanging him in her home.
After pleading guilty to third-degree assault and attempted murder, the Hennepin County court issued the ‘punishment’ which is far from sufficient according to the public.
Additionally, Karia was also charged with criminal vehicular operation after hitting a bicyclist, a pedestrian, and one driver while trying to flee in her minivan back in 2016.
Besides serving ten years of probation, Nataliia must go through a mental health treatment. She will also be electronically monitored at her home for at least two months.
Karia will be allowed to live with her adult son. However, she is forbidden from having any kind of unsupervised contact with minors, including her daughters.
According to the police reports, Karia was busted as one father was dropping his son off at her home. There, Karia led him to the basement where the shocked dad noticed a toddler hanging from the ceiling.
The father released the kid and escaped together with him and his son. Fortunately, the 16-month-old boy who was hanged survived the ordeal.
After getting busted, Karia fled the scene and, as previously mentioned, hit other traffic participants while doing so.
When she was caught by the police, she was preparing to jump off an overpass and commit suicide.
According to the assessment of Karia’s doctors and Judge Jay Quam, she is unlikely to commit an offense again. As the judge said, her actions were “the perfect storm of factors unlikely to ever be repeated.”
“We came in here with our hearts in our throats,” Brockton Hunter, Karia’s Defense attorney, said during the trial. He also explained that Karia already served 20 months in jail while awaiting trial.
After promising to follow the rules of probation and claiming that she’s glad that no one died, Karia was sentenced to 10 years of probation despite the prosecutor pushing for prison time.
What do you make of this verdict? Do you think that the punishment is severe enough? Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to SHARE this post!