A Lake Stevens mother who lied to police to protect the man who battered their 5-week-old daughter was sentenced Tuesday to three months in the Snohomish County Jail.
Cynthia Lynn Post, 23, pleaded guilty to second-degree perjury because she continued to lie about what had happened to the infant for two weeks during an Everett police investigation of the baby’s injuries in 2005.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge James Allendoerfer called her lies a “major violation of our social contract” to care for children.
Post will be allowed to serve one month of the term by doing community service work, according to the sentence handed down by Allendoerfer.
Post’s boyfriend, Bradley Wgeishofski, pleaded guilty to assaulting the infant and is serving a six-year prison sentence.
Deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson said the child could have lifelong problems from the beating. Nearly 2 now, the girl still can’t walk, and she doesn’t have full eyesight back. The child is in foster care.
The sentencing range for Post’s perjury is one to three months behind bars.
Defense attorney Guss Markwell of Everett argued that Post’s lies were “dumb,” and she had been in love with a violent man. She is in counseling and is working to be a better person, Markwell said. He asked for just a 30-day sentence, all of it converted to community service work instead of jail time.
Allendoerfer noted the child was injured, lost consciousness and then temporarily recovered the day before the injuries were reported to medics. Post knew the infant was injured and didn’t call for help until she lost consciousness again, the judge said.
“I think she needs to understand the full impact of what she did,” Allendoerfer said.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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