A Whitwell, Tenn., woman convicted of reckless homicide and aggravated assault in the 2015 beating death of a 5-year-old boy was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison.
Holly Rutledge, 30 when she was arrested in February 2016, was sentenced in the death of Lucas Dillon, who was found unresponsive by ambulance personnel and later died.
Twelfth Judicial District Assistant District Attorney Steve Strain said the sentence was the maximum possible under a conviction on the homicide and assault charges.
Also, Strain said Rutledge's bond was revoked.
Holly Rutledge, 30, also known as Holly Hardesty, has been charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the March 2015 death of 5-year-old Lucas Dillon in Whitwell, Tenn."Obviously, nothing the court does can change what happened to Lucas, but we're very satisfied with the judge's ruling in imposing the sentence," Strain said Tuesday.
Rutledge was convicted in June by a jury picked in Franklin County. That jury found Rutledge not guilty of first-degree murder.
According to trial testimony, the boy's father, Nathan Dillon, left the house around 6:30 a.m. the day of the incident and Lucas was fine, but at 10:42 a.m., Rutledge called 911. The boy was unresponsive and ambulance personnel arrived to find he wasn't breathing and had no heartbeat.
The little boy had suffered blunt force trauma to his head and sustained serious injuries to his head, neck and shoulders.
Rutledge was taken into custody after the sentencing hearing and is being held at the Marion County Justice Center.
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.