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Louisiana high court upholds sentence in mom's bedsore death

Posted at 6:13 PM, Oct 16, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-16 19:13:59-04

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Louisiana Supreme Court has let stand a Baton Rouge woman's 40-year prison sentence in the 2014 bedsore-related death of her 82-year-old mother.

The Advocate reports 58-year-old Joleslie Looney was convicted last year of manslaughter in the death of Bessie Looney. The state 1st Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed Looney's maximum sentence in February, calling her conduct reprehensible. The state Supreme Court on Tuesday denied her appeal without issuing written reasons.

Bessie Looney was found strapped in a wheelchair with a large wound leaking thick, green mucus. She weighed just 82 pounds when she died.

Looney claimed her sentence was excessive and amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.

Looney's 22-year-old daughter, Lauren, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and received five years.