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Sugar Cookie

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Oct 30, 2018

A Billings woman was sentenced to the maximum possible prison term Tuesday for her role in the years of abuse that her stepson suffered.

Julie Rennie Mitchell, 41, was sentenced in Yellowstone County District Court on four felonies to 40 years in the Montana Women’s Prison, with a 15-year parole restriction.

At issue in the hearing was whether Julie Mitchell was a bystander who failed to intervene or an active participant in the roughly two and a half years of physical abuse inflicted on the child while he lived with the her and her husband, Cornelius Mitchell, the child’s biological father.

That abuse included starvation, broken ribs, a broken wrist and hundreds of other burns and lacerations, state witnesses testified.

The defense testified that Julie Mitchell did participate in some of the abuse but was more often a bystander, afraid of her husband, whom defense attorney Ashley Harada called “a monster.” Cornelius Mitchell would hurt both his wife and son when his wife tried to intervene in the child abuse, Harada said.

But the state called witnesses who said the physical abuse of the child continued even when Cornelius Mitchell was not home. They also testified that the child expressed fear of Julie Mitchell, and that Julie Mitchell gave inaccurate accounts of the child’s medical circumstances, including that his abnormal interactions with doctors were because he had autism.

“This is photo taken by law enforcement in May of 2017,” she said. "And this child’s eye and the body and the scarring, which included cigarette burns on his back, were reported by the defendant as being self-inflicted, self-harm, because he was autistic.”

Before handing down the sentence, Judge Mary Jane Knisely said Julie Mitchell had played more than “a passive standby” role in the abuse, and that putting her in prison was necessary to protect society.

Foster parents for the abused child testified the boy is now healthy, growing and making friends.
https://billingsgazette.com/news/st...cle_457f5934-0f6b-5121-bd86-0c6edb0692e7.html
A Billings man has admitted charges in a child abuse case.

Cornelius Mitchell, 51, pleaded guilty Friday to three felonies in Yellowstone County District Court.

Mitchell brought his 6-year-old child to the hospital in 2017 because the boy was having seizures, prosecutors say. The child was then flown out of state for more extensive treatment, kickstarting a criminal investigation into the boy’s circumstances.
https://www.sidneyherald.com/nation...WfEBjAV44DQjenCU3JP2E-9X-tEeerRNeHL3Ku_5BhfaE
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What is going on with the shape of their heads?
their faces are so far forward!
 
Mar 2, 2019
A Billings man wasn’t faultless in his son’s protracted physical abuse, but he also wasn’t the “monster” his wife and co-defendant made him out to be, a prosecutor said.

Cornelius Mitchell, 51, was charged alongside his wife, Julie Mitchell, for physical abuse to their son that spanned three years and included broken bones, burns and lacerations.

When Cornelius Mitchell took the boy to the hospital one night in 2017 for seizures, he was then transferred out of state for care and a criminal investigation began.

Yellowstone County District Court Judge Donald Harris called the abuse “horrific,” and “difficult to comprehend, actually.”

But while Julie Mitchell received the maximum penalty in October for her role in the abuse, and was given a 15-year parole restriction on her 40-year sentence, prosecutors saw Cornelius’ case differently.
“The state believes that the co-defendant Julie Mitchell was really and truly the monster,” said Deputy Yellowstone County Attorney Victoria Callender.

Julie Mitchell lied to Cornelius, medical staff, child protection workers, neighbors, and to her sentencing judge, the prosecutor said.

The prosecution and defense jointly recommended a 20-year prison term with 10 years suspended.

Judge Harris followed it, he said, for three reasons: Cornelius Mitchell saved his son’s life by bringing him to the hospital, the boy’s foster family supported the recommendation, and the same prosecutor handled both of the Mitchells’ cases and was positioned to assess the differences between Cornelius and Julie.


Callender told the judge that Mitchell was gullible and that his wife had manipulated him and was responsible for most of the abuse.

“I will also tell you that in my opinion after meeting with Mr. Mitchell, he loves this child," Callender said. "Again, I say he failed him miserably, but he loves his son. And I have told Mr. Mitchell that in the darkest moments of his life when he is beating himself up over this, he has to remember one significant thing: On Feb. 20 of 2017, this defendant took that child to St. Vincent hospital, and if he had not done that, that little boy would not be alive today.”

“I never meant for this to happen to my son, I love him,” he said, before starting to sob, sitting down and putting his head on the table in front of him.


He is the father and for that alone he should be doing the same if not more time than her.

The same would be true if the sexes were reversed.
 
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