Sullivan sentenced to 8 years in prison

Molly Sullivan
Molly Sullivan

BENTONVILLE -- A Prairie Grove woman was sentenced to eight years in prison Aug. 14 after a judge revoked the probation she was given for causing her child's death.

Molly Dawn Sullivan received a sentence of eight years' supervised probation last year after she pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Prosecutors asked to revoke her probation based on suspected violations including marijuana use, failure to attend parenting classes and failure to report as ordered to the probation office.

Brian Sexton, deputy Benton County prosecutor, recommended today Sullivan be sentenced to prison.

"This court gave her a chance with probation to get services and deal with these issues so what happened to her child would not happen again," Sexton said.

Sullivan admitted in court to smoking marijuana and not following other terms of her probation.

Benton County Sheriff's Office detectives Brandon Dill and Joe Adams investigated her child's death at 23632 Coon Hollow Road in Decatur on Oct. 28, 2016, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Sullivan called 911 at 11:21 a.m. that day to report her son wasn't breathing, according to the affidavit. Sullivan said she fell asleep on the couch. After she awoke, she discovered her son was blue and purple. She called 911 and did CPR.

Sullivan told detectives there was a couch pillow in the playpen when she found her son, but the pillow wasn't on top of him. Sullivan said she threw couch pillows in the area near the playpen and might have accidentally thrown one into the playpen, according to the affidavit.

Circuit Judge Brad Karren sentenced Sullivan to eight years in the Arkansas Department of Correction.

General News on 08/22/2018