There will be -no- jury trial next week for a former Cass County daycare provider who was charged in the death of a child in her care.
Alison Elaine Dorsey, who ran a daycare center in Massena, waived her rights and entered a negotiated plea of guilty to a single charge of involuntary manslaughter, in connection with the 2019 death of an 11-week-old child in her care.
Her attorney Trevor Hook said a second count of child endangerment causing death, will be dismissed at her sentencing next week. Dorsey faces a maximum of five-years in prison, with credit for time served — about 20 months.
In her written plea, Dorsey wrote that while she was caring for Luka Hodges, she picked him up. She said was being fussy and wouldn’t eat, so she rocked him in her arms harder than she should have. Dorsey said she regrets her actions unintentionally caused the infant’s death.
Dorsey’s trial was set to take place February 24th in Cass County District Court. It was to have been her third trial. The first in Atlantic ended in a hung jury/mistrial.
The second, held in June of 2023 in Pottawattamie County, resulted in a conviction for second-degree murder and child endangerment resulting in death, but the verdict was overturned by the Iowa Supreme Court because the court said it was improperly moved from Cass County.
(By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic)