Mother pleads guilty in connection to son’s beating death
By News Staff
news@abc6.com
A mother will spend almost 9 years behind bars after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
Trish Oliver expressed remorse at her sentencing Tuesday, but the judge didn’t buy it. Oliver will spend he next 8 years and 9 months at the ACI and then be on probation until 2036.
Her son, 6-year-old Marco Nieves, was beaten to death in 2009 at the hands of Oliver’s then boyfriend, Michael Patino. He’s currently serving a life sentence.
Prosecutors say Oliver had plenty of opportunities to get the boy help as he begged for his life, but instead thought of herself, getting high, and how to protect Patino, who controlled her through regular abuse.
Her attorney says his client admits she failed Marco, and that she has accepted responsibility for that.
Countless text messages between Oliver and Patino were read aloud in court, describing the pain and agony the boy was in, and giving prosecutors a timeline of just how long Oliver waited to get Marco medical attention. Some 15 hours had passed.
Had she gotten him help sooner, doctors say the boy could have lived.
Marco would have been just shy of his 13th birthday.
(C) WLNE-TV 2016
