Mom sentenced for kids’ asphyxiation attempt

By: Associated Press//December 23, 2013//

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MEDFORD, Wis. (AP) — A central Wisconsin woman accused of trying to asphyxiate four of her six children with vehicle exhaust has been sentenced to 25 years in a mental institution.

Heidi S. Mann initially pleaded insanity to four counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide. Online court records say the 37-year-old Rib Lake woman changed her pleas Monday to no contest.

The judge then found Mann not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.

Mann was accused of putting her four youngest kids in an SUV and letting the engine run in a closed garage for two hours. Prosecutors say she was worried they couldn’t handle her divorce.

The children survived without any apparent effects. They were 3, 6 and 9 and 12.

A message left with her defense attorney was not immediately returned.

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