A grandmother has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of her 10-year-old grandson, preventing her from receiving a murder conviction.
Mistie Latourette, 59, entered the sweetheart deal earlier this week with the attorney general's office in Maine, reducing her time behind bars from a maximum of life in prison to 30 years.
The attorney general's office said it will recommend 10 years behind bars. Latourette's lawyer, Chris MacLean, told the Bangor Daily News that he will argue for 28 months of time served at her sentencing hearing later this month.
Latourette is the third family member to plead guilty in connection with Braxtyn Smith's death.
The 10-year-old was homeschooled and abused by his parents and grandmother, prosecutors argued.
Authorities were made aware of the torture in February, 2024, when Braxtyn's parents, Jem Bean and Joshua Smith, took him to a hospital.
He did not have a pulse and was not breathing when he arrived, according to court documents reviewed by local ABC affiliate WMTW.
The boy had also appeared to be malnourished, and his vomit had the appearance and smell of pet food, an arrest affidavit stated.
Braxtyn Smith, 10, died in 2024 after his parents took him to the hospital. He had been vomitting and was did not have a pulse when he arrived
Mistie Latourette, 59, the boy's paternal grandmother, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with his death
Prosecutors said Braxtyn had been abused and tortured by his grandmother and his parents. He was homeschooled and authorities had not been alerted to the abuse until he was hospitalized
Medical staff questioned the parents about bruises on the boy's body. Bean said at the time that Braxtyn had 'temper tantrums' and would throw himself on the ground.
Scans of the boy's head had also revealed bleeding between his brain and skull, a police detective wrote in court documents.
Bean had told investigators that she and Smith used zip ties to keep Braxtyn in a chair as punishment.
Prosecutors argued in court that the couple would tie the child's hands behind his back and his foot to a plastic bin while he slept.
Latourette's attorney said that although she had bought zip ties for her son on two occasions, she could not have known what they were intended for.
Prosecutors also accused the family of starving the child to death. MacLean, Latourette's attorney, said that she would withhold meals from Braxtyn to motivate him to do his chores, but not enough to kill him.
'She made choices that in retrospect she recognizes could have been handled differently,' MacLean told the Bangor Daily News.
'We thought the better way to handle things is to accept responsibility with manslaughter.'
Prosecutors argued that Braxtyn's parents used zip ties to torture him, starved him and physically abused him
Prosecutors read text messages aloud in court where Braxtyn's parents discussed beating and killing him. Smith said in court that they were 'taken out of context'
Latourette's son, Smith, previously pleaded guilty to depraved indifference to murder. Bean pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Assistant Attorney General Leane Robbin read aloud the torture inflicted upon Braxtyn during Smith's plea hearing.
Smith stared straight ahead as Robbin went through the prosecution's evidence, the Bangor Daily News previously reported.
The prosecutor read text messages sent between the parents, which described how they would beat and kill their child.
Smith claimed the messages were 'taken out of context,' adding that they were 'sarcasm and stuff like that.'
Robbin also argued that the hospital staff tried to keep Braxtyn alive so Smith could say goodbye, only to find out that he had gone to a marijuana shop.
Smith and Latourette were primarily home with Braxtyn, while his mother worked full-time for the Department of Health and Human Services at Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Hospital in an administrative position.
The prosecution claimed that as hospital staff tried to keep Braxtyn alive so Smith could say goodbye, he was at a marijuana shop
Bean worked full-time as Smith and Latourette cared for the 10-year-old boy at home. The three family members are awaiting sentencing, but have pleaded guilty to the charges against them
During Bean's hearing, Robbin argued, 'Her son was so hungry he was eating out of the trash and the solution was to restrain him.'
An unnamed witness testified to investigators that Braxtyn ate dog food, was tied up, and was hit in the head by his caretakers.
His death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner's office. The child's cause of death was blunt force injuries in a setting of battered child syndrome.
Prosecutors said he had at least 15 injuries from abuse at the time of his death, including internal head injuries, burns, bruises and hemorrhages.
The three family members have yet to be sentenced. Bean's hearing has not yet been scheduled, while Smith is expected to receive a sentence in September.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the attorney general's office and Latourette's attorney for comment.
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