An Oregon woman convicted of murdering
her 4-year-old son whom she described as gay was sentenced Friday to
a minimum of 25 years in prison.
According
to KATU, Jessica Dutro could be locked up the rest of her life.
The boy, Zachary Dutro-Boggess, died in
2012, several days after being hospitalized with trauma to his
abdomen, The
Oregonian reported.
Prosecutors alleged that Dutro was
abusive with three of her children, but Zachary bore the brunt of the
violence. Only an infant – whose father Dutro lived with –
showed no signs of abuse.
Dutro's 7-year-old daughter told
investigators that her mother and her boyfriend had beaten her
brother on August 12, 2012.
“They beat up my brother, then he
died. I seen them,” the girl reportedly told her counselor.
The motive behind the violence,
prosecutors allege, was Dutro's fear that her son was gay.
Using a slur, Dutro told her boyfriend
in a Facebook message that her son was going to be gay – “He
walks and talks like it. Ugh.” – and said that he would have to
“work on” Zachary.