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February 11,2022

Andrew Campbell 

Rebecca Hogue, 29, was found guilty in November of first-degree murdering her two-year-old son Ryder under Oklahoma's "failure to protect" laws, which hold that parents who fail to protect their children from child abuse face the same charges as the abuser.

A jury decided that she should be sentenced to life in prison, but on February 11th, a judge reduced the sentence to 16 months. Because of the time she has already served, she will be sentenced to 13 months in prison.

On New Year's Day 2020, Ryder was found unresponsive. Hogue awoke to find him not breathing after a 12-hour work at a bar in the early hours of the morning. Christopher Trent, her lover, had vanished. Trent's body was discovered four days after Ryder's death, which was believed to be the result of suicide. The words "Rebecca is innocent" were carved into a nearby tree. Ryder died of blunt-force injuries, according to a coroner's report, and prosecutors later stated that Trent killed him.

Despite the fact that Hogue said she was unaware Trent was abusing Ryder until after his death, prosecutors claimed she searched on her phone for warning indications that a child was being abused, implying she was concerned her son was in danger.