Mom pleads guilty in spanking case
By Scott E. Williams, The Daily News, January 21, 2006

DICKINSON - A plea agreement ended a beating case involving a boy, 11, and his parents, officials said Friday.

Dara Michelle Wilson, 33, pleaded guilty to injury to a child by omission and accepted a five-year probation term. Last month, her husband, 39-year-old Charles Ray Wilson, pleaded guilty to injury to a child and received 10 years in prison.

Child Protective Services called police in April after officials at Silbernagel Elementary School contacted the state agency. The child had been beaten so severely the night before that bruises covered his buttocks and part of his lower back. The injury was discovered after school officials tried to find out why the boy was having trouble walking.

Dara Wilson will retain custody of her other children, but the 11-year-old victim is living with other family members. His mother is allowed only supervised visits with the child.

Byron Fulk, Dara Wilson's attorney, said his client was divorcing her husband and her fear of Charles Wilson led to her inaction in the case.

"She loves him, but she loves her kids more," Fulk said.

"It's a classic case of battered-wife syndrome."


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