Jennifer Lee Wilson, the Valparaiso area woman who pleaded guilty to a felony count of reckless homicide in the death of her foster son, Dakota “Levi” Stevens, has withdrawn her attempt to appeal her sentence, according to recent online court filings.
Wilson, 49, of Liberty Township, is incarcerated at Madison Correctional Facility. She was sentenced Jan. 17 to serve five years in the Indiana Department of Correction, followed by one year on probation. Her earliest possible release date, according to online DOC records, is Oct. 13, 2028.
Wilson, according to an online court docket, filed a notice of appeal with the Indiana Court of Appeals on Feb. 10, within the 30-day deadline to do so after she was sentenced by Porter Superior Court Senior Judge Michael Bergerson.
Wilson had a deadline of May 27 to file a brief with the appellate court but according to a document filed that day, “Appellant has not filed said brief and does not intend to do so as she has decided to no longer proceed with this appeal.”
It’s not immediately clear why Wilson chose not to appeal her sentence. Her attorney, Heather McCleary, did not return a request for comment.
The appellate court granted Wilson’s request on June 2, according to court filings, noting “this appeal is dismissed with prejudice,” which means it cannot be filed again.
Dakota, affectionately referred to as Levi by his biological family, was 10 when he died, a few days after, according to charging documents and court testimony, Wilson held him down on April 24, 2024, outside of her Liberty Township home until he stopped breathing after he tried to run away, calling his caseworker and her husband as Dakota screamed until he stopped breathing.
“He’s pronounced dead from asphyxiation, a 10-year-old boy, who this court will not ignore, as he was ignored by the defendant,” Bergerson said during Wilson’s sentencing, his voice occasionally rising as he went over the factors that played into her sentence.
He also said that day that the mitigating factors in the case, including Wilson’s lack of criminal history, her remorse, her guilty plea and the unlikelihood that the circumstances wouldn’t occur again, could not overtake the aggravating factors.
Wilson weighed 340 pounds and Dakota weighed 91 pounds, according to charging documents.
“All the while this beautiful boy was crying for his life — crying for his life — the defendant is just completely oblivious that she had just killed a foster child,” Bergerson said during the sentencing. “It’s hard to think of a more egregious set of circumstances.”
Wilson, according to the charges, sat on the boy for almost 7 minutes, at a minimum.
The boy’s maternal family initially hoped for more serious charges against Wilson but have turned their focus to preventing the deaths of other children in foster care through a change in reporting procedures for suspected abuse.
“We fully believe if he had made it out of the system, he would have been impactful,” said Eva Parrish of Gary, one of his maternal aunts and one of several biological relatives who shared their thoughts at his gravesite at Old Maplewood Cemetery in Crown Point shortly before the one-year anniversary of his death.
alavalley@chicagotribune.com
