NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) — A western Nebraska woman has been imprisoned for shaking her infant son, damaging his eyes and causing other injuries.
The North Platte Telegraph reported that Shawlen Johnston, 23, was given 12 to 24 years at her sentencing hearing Monday in North Platte. She’d pleaded no contest to assault.
Johnston and a family member took the infant to an emergency room Dec. 12, 2018. The child was soon flown to an Omaha hospital.
She told officers she believed that her 18-month-old son had pulled the 7-month-old infant out of his bassinet and onto the floor while she had left the room to use a bathroom at her home in Tryon. Court documents say a doctor who treated the infant determined that the injuries were caused by shaking and were not accidental.
