St. Paul woman senenced to supervised probation, community work service on felony manslaughter charge in Mower County District Court

A St. Paul woman who pleaded guilty to a felony manslaughter charge in Mower County District Court in causing the death of her 2-month old son at a residence in the 400 block of 27th St. SW in Austin on December 13th, 2021 has been sentenced to supervised probation and community work service.  

25-year old Jocelyn Leslie Pater was convicted and sentenced Wednesday to five years of supervised probation and 200 hours of community work service for a felony charge of 2nd degree manslaughter, commit or attempt to commit.  Pater was given credit for 69 days already served, and she must comply with 19 different conditions while on probation.  Austin Police reported that Pater and her child were at the residence when Pater slept on the couch with her baby that day and wound up suffocating him.  Authorities indicated that methamphetamine was also found in the boy’s system, though they added that it was not clear if the drug contributed to his death.

Pater pleaded guilty to the charge on July 19th, and three additional felony charges against Pater in the case, including for endanger child, situation could cause harm or death, also for drugs, cause or permit a child or vulnerable adult to ingest, inhale or be exposed to methamphetamine, and for 5th degree drug possession were dismissed with Pater’s guilty plea.

Pater originally pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against her on June 23rd, 2022.