BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — An appeals court in Louisiana has upheld a 40-year prison sentence for a Baton Rouge woman who neglected to care for her elderly mother, who died covered in bedsores and waste.
The Advocate reports the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal on Thursday also upheld the manslaughter conviction for 57-year-old Joleslie Looney in the death of Bessie Looney. Chief Judge Vanessa Whipple wrote that the sentencing was justified by the "extreme cruelty" inflicted upon Bessie Looney, who suffered from dementia and was dependent on her daughter's care.
The coroner's office said Bessie Looney's death was a homicide. She was found dead in 2014 strapped to a wheelchair in a fly-infested room. Looney's daughter, Lauren, was convicted of negligent homicide in Bessie Looney's death and sentenced to five years in prison.
