Ind. woman gets 6 years for severely injuring son

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A Lafayette woman has been sentenced to six years in prison for nearly suffocating her young son and leaving him with severe disabilities.

Twenty-five-year-old Senora L. Wheeler was sentenced Friday in Tippecanoe Superior Court after pleading guilty but mentally ill to neglect of a dependent causing serious bodily injury in the near-suffocation of Melvin Moon Jr.

The Journal & Courier reports Wheeler has a lengthy history of mental illness.

Prosecutors say Lafayette police on Nov. 28, 2009, found Wheeler, her two young daughters and an infant niece under a pine tree in front of their home, and her 3-year-old son beneath her, unconscious and with no pulse.

The now 5-year-old boy suffered severe brain damage from oxygen deprivation and has limited mental capacity and is on a ventilator.