Park City woman gets 8 years in prison for failing to give son medical care before his death
A Park City woman was sentenced to eight years in prison Thursday for failing to give her son the medical care he required after a heart transplant.
A jury found Jennifer Stroud guilty in May of felony charges of involuntary manslaughter and endangering the life of a child. Stroud faced up to 14 years in prison for the charges before her.
The eight-year sentence she received will be served at 50% and will be followed by two years of supervised release, according to officials. The 75 days she served from her May trial to Thursday's sentencing hearing will count toward her prison sentence.
Jason Stroud, 11, was a sixth-grader at Woodland Middle School in Gurnee when he died on Sept. 11, 2016, four years after undergoing heart transplant surgery in Milwaukee.
In trial, lead prosecutor Eric Kalata said the evidence showed months of failure by Stroud to care for her son.
Stroud, her then-husband David Stroud and Jason moved from Milwaukee to Park City in 2015. The couple were expected to take Jason to Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago for regular visits. The parents also were tasked with giving Jason daily medication to prevent his body from rejecting the heart, authorities said.
When Jason missed several hospital appointments from December 2015 to August 2016, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services performed a well-being check, authorities said.
During trial, prosecutors called 13 witnesses, including medical experts who explained how missing the appointments and failing to take the medication led to Jason's death.
David and Jennifer Stroud were co-defendants at one point, but the case was severed after the couple filed for divorce in July 2017.
David Stroud pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in May 2019 and was sentenced to five years in prison.