Mother indicted on manslaughter charges in son’s death

An East Providence mother has been indicted on manslaughter charges in the death of her six-year-old son.

The Providence County Grand Jury secretly indicted 32-year-old Trisha Oliver on Tuesday following the investigation led by Cranston Police.

Reports say that from about October 3 to October 4 of 2009, Oliver caused the death of her son, Marco Nieves, through criminal negligence.

Oliver's boyfriend, Michael Patino, was found guilty of second-degree murder of Marco back in April.  He was babysitting Marco when he hit the young boy three times, once in the stomach, causing internal damage that led to his death.

"Miss Oliver had nothing to do with the death of her son and certainly never ever wanted anything harmful to come her sons way,” said Oliver’s defense attorney Ken Schreiber. "I want to make it very clear for the public there's nobody right now on the face of this earth that is more grieving than Trisha Oliver."

During Patino's trial several controversial text messages between Oliver and Patino were entered into evidence. They show the two fighting for hours as the little boy suffered. The defense in that case saying if Oliver had taken him to the hospital sooner he could have lived.

"I don't want to in any way comment what was in another case or what may be in this case,” said Schreiber.

A pre-trial conference in this case is scheduled for late September.

(C) WLNE-TV 2015