Kansas City woman sentenced to five years for abusing mother
By JOE LAMBE - The Kansas City Star
A Jackson County judge on Friday sentenced a Kansas City woman to five years in prison for beating her 91-year-old mother with a cane and otherwise abusing her.
Carolyn J. Hanks, 54, pleaded guilty previously to assault, armed criminal action, felonious restraint and unlawful use of a weapon.
She also threatened her mother, Ruby Shinn, with a knife and kept her hostage in her home. Shinn escaped and called police.
She also threatened her mother, Ruby Shinn, with a knife and kept her hostage in her home. Shinn escaped and called police.
A police officer testified Friday that the home in the 300 block of East 79th Terrace was the most disgusting situation he had ever seen. Feces, used toilet paper and buckets of urine were all over, and the smell was vile, he said.
Shinn, who had bruises and cuts on her body and a compound fracture of her arm, told police that her daughter was trying to kill her.
At the sentencing, Judge J.D. Williamson told Hanks: “Your conduct was absolutely deplorable. There is no excuse I can conjure up in any way, shape or form that will even mitigate it.”
But he declined to sentence her to the full 10 years allowed by the plea bargain, noting the lack of any other felony, her age and mental illness.
Defense attorney Curt Winegarner, who said his client started treatment for her mental problem in jail after her arrest on April 25, 2006, asked for a sentence of three years. Hanks sometimes muttered to herself during the hearing.
Assistant prosecutor Sydney Wallace asked for the full 10 years. He said Hanks had abused her mother for at least a year and might have killed her if she had not escaped.
“The fact the defendant chose to treat her own mother like this was what is most telling about Ms. Hanks,” Wallace said.
Shinn, who just turned 93, now lives in a nursing home close to other relatives.
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