Bethany Fleming, Fort Wayne, Indiana mom who faced attempted murder charge after hitting 10 year old son with hammer to plead guilty to lesser charge of neglect of a dependent and being mentally ill.
A Fort Wayne, Indiana mother has pled guilty to neglecting her 10-year-old son in exchange for a smaller jail time after initially facing an attempted murder rap.
In return for the plea deal, prosecutors will drop an attempted murder charge if the judge accepts it. The deal allows for a substantially smaller jail time had the woman gone to trial and be found guilty of attempted murder which she had been originally charged with at the time of her October 3, 2023 arrest.
Bethany Fleming, 32, claimed she hit her 10 year old son in the head with a hammer and stabbed herself when she thought someone was coming to take them both into sex slavery.
Sweet-heart plea deal
Responding officers at the time found both the boy and his mother suffering from life threatening injuries. The mom was taken into custody following her release from hospital.
Doctors told police the boy had a skull fracture and bleeding on or about the brain. The boy’s life was saved after undergoing emergency surgery, FOX55 previously reported.
Documents at the time stated Fleming telling police she thought ‘this was the only way’ for her son and herself to not be sold into slavery.
According to her plea agreement, Fleming has pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent, Level 3 Felony, and being mentally ill. If a judge signs off, the mom would have a 12-year sentence with seven years suspended.
She will be sentenced September 30, conditional if the judge accepts the deal, WOWO reported.
Of the sentence’s executed portion, the woman would avoid state penitentiary and serve the first three years in Allen County Community Corrections Residential Services.
The following two years would be served through Allen County Home Detention.
According to the agreement, Fleming would then be placed on three years of active adult probation.
The agreement also states Fleming must submit to psychological evaluation.
