Minnesota couple avoids prison time in son's drowning death

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A judge says a Minnesota couple accused in the drowning death of their 21-month-old son after leaving three children unsupervised for nearly two hours will not have to serve prison time.

Eddy Louis, 55, and Sabina Lewis, 26, of Bloomington, pleaded guilty in August to second-degree manslaughter for the September 2019 death. Hennepin County District Court Judge William Koch on Friday sentenced the couple to six months of home monitoring, three years of probation and 150 hours of community service.

The criminal complaint says the couple left the house before 8 a.m. on a Saturday and went shopping at Cub Foods and Walmart. They told police the children were asleep at the time, and they thought the kids would continue to sleep until they returned.

When the couple came home, they said the oldest child was still sleeping but they heard their 4-year-old in the bathroom, where they discovered the baby in the tub.

As part of the sentence, the couple must also engage in family therapy and complete a parenting class.