By Nina Harrelson nharrelson@nebraska.tv
A Holdrege woman who pleaded not guilty last summer to child abuse charges stemming from an incident at her daycare has changed her plea to no contest after the charges were amended.
Kendra Fritsche, 39, entered the plea Nov. 21 in Phelps County District Court. She was originally charged with committing child abuse intentionally with injury -- a Class 2 felony -- but the charges were amended to committing child abuse intentionally with no injury -- a Class 3 felony.
Fritsche was arrested in February after a 3-month-old girl in her care was taken to the emergency room at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney on Oct. 15, 2010, with a skull fracture.
Doctors say the infant also showed signs of shaken baby syndrome.
Fritsche told authorities that she may have put the child down in a carseat "too hard."
Sentencing has not yet been scheduled. She could serve up to 5 years in prison and/or be fined up to $10,000 if convicted. Under the original charges, Fritsche was facing up to 50 years in prison.
Kendra Fritsche, 39, entered the plea Nov. 21 in Phelps County District Court. She was originally charged with committing child abuse intentionally with injury -- a Class 2 felony -- but the charges were amended to committing child abuse intentionally with no injury -- a Class 3 felony.
Fritsche was arrested in February after a 3-month-old girl in her care was taken to the emergency room at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney on Oct. 15, 2010, with a skull fracture.
Doctors say the infant also showed signs of shaken baby syndrome.
Fritsche told authorities that she may have put the child down in a carseat "too hard."
Sentencing has not yet been scheduled. She could serve up to 5 years in prison and/or be fined up to $10,000 if convicted. Under the original charges, Fritsche was facing up to 50 years in prison.
Hopefully she gets a very tough sentence for this crime. She is a former Speech Pathologist with Kearney Public School, this action and every form of Child Abuse is heartbreaking, why must the innocent be hurt by those that are supposed to be protecting them! Let's start holding these people accountable for their actions, if an adult was hurt so bad that it fractured their skull or hurt bad enough to show bleeding in their eye's you can guarantee that the responsible party would be in prison. Shouldn't our children be given the same if not more protection! It will be very interesting to see what the judge decides is a fitting punishment for fracturing the skull of a 3 month old.
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