Mom who left wounded girl at home gets jail time

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She went to work that day and left the two children at home; her husband also was at work, meaning the children were unattended. Edwards came home after being notified of the shooting; she bandaged the girl’s injuries and returned to work.

It wasn’t until Edwards came home and saw urine coming out of a stomach wound that she took the girl to a hospital.

“I have torn the family from my husband, I have put undue pain and suffering on my children and undue stress on in-laws and my parents. … I just want to make it better,” Edwards said. Alyssa Edwards, 28, of Hayesville, is handcuffed after her sentencing in Ashland County Common Pleas Court on Monday. Edwards’ attorney, Donald Wick, told Judge Ronald P. Forsthoefel that Edwards, who had no criminal history, was trying to balance her duties as a working parent.

He asked that Edwards be placed on community control — probation — because of her cooperation with authorities and the work she has put into following an Ashland County Department of Job and Family Services case plan.

“Ms. Edwards readily admits that she made some horrific mistakes in judgement,” Wick said.

County Assistant Prosecutor Victor Perez deferred to the judge for sentencing.

Forsthoefel called the circumstances surrounding the case “horrendous.” The judge said he was torn on handing down a sentence because he felt that if the bolt-action rifle used by the brother had been properly secured, “we wouldn’t be here.”

The judge went on to say: “More egregious was the fact that you saw the injuries, observed the injuries to your 4-year-old child and then left to go back to work. That’s why you’re here, in my opinion.”

Edwards will be allowed work release while serving the jail sentence; she also was ordered to continue counseling and pay $500 in fines. Guns and ammunition will not be allowed in the house while Edwards is on probation.