RHINELANDER – Thirty-year-old Ellen L. Tran will spend the next 15 years behind bars for wrongfully killing her 20-month-old stepson, Avery Edwards, who was under her care during a visit. Judge Patrick O’Melia imposed the sentence Tuesday, Dec. 11 during a hearing in Oneida County Circuit Court.
Tran will spend an additional seven years on extended supervision once she’s released from prison. Tran could have faced a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and 20 years of extended supervision.
A 12-person jury took less than two hours Oct. 25 to find the stepmother guilty of first-degree reckless homicide after a four-day trial. She did not testify in her own defense. Tran, formerly of the town of Newbold, told investigators at first that she did not know how the toddler suffered the fatal injuries on April 14, 2017. Tran was home alone with Avery and her own two children at the time, according to sheriff’s investigators. She later claimed the boy had slipped in the shower.
A forensic pathologist testified at Tran’s jury trial that blunt force trauma to the head likely caused the child’s death. The jury heard testimony that Ellen Tran disliked Avery. Investigators uncovered profanity-laced text messages about the boy from Ellen Tran to Avery’s father, Trung Tran, including at one point asking, “Who could possibly think this child is cute.”
But the picture that emerged at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing -- by way of a video played before the biological mother’s hour-long witness impact statement -- showed a toddler full of energy and laughter, as he chased a large blue ball and during other play.
Avery’s mother, Lori Edwards, and others seated with her dabbed their eyes with tissues as it played. Edwards held it together during her lengthy statement, but at times her voice cracked with emotion as she recounted cherished memories of Avery. Looking directly at Ellen Tran, seated six feet from her across two tables, Edwards called her “a wicked, evil, vile person.” “She tormented him,” Edwards said of the stepmother. “She mistreated him. She taunted him. She abused him. She broke his spirit. She stole Avery’s light and laughter from him in those two weeks. And then she killed him. “My sweet baby, that was my whole world, suffered his last two weeks of his life at the hands of a monster. A real-life monster.” Saying the stepmother lacked remorse for her actions, Edwards told her, “I hope you get everything you deserve when you go to prison.” To the judge, Edwards said Tran “doesn’t deserve compassion.”
Tran, for her part, sobbed during her brief remarks to the judge, asking for leniency because of her two young children. “I hope you will consider my kids when imposing my sentence because they will also suffer without their mother.”
The pre-sentence investigator had suggested a prison term of 18 to 20 years. District Attorney Michael Schiek recommended that Tran be incarcerated 20-25 years. Tran’s defense attorney Jonas Bednarek asked for a six-year prison sentence with an additional six years extended supervision. “(Avery) would have been safer if just left on somebody’s doorstep,” O’Melia said before handing down the sentence. “A stranger would have taken better care of Avery.”
On her Facebook page, Justice for Avery, Lori Edwards said the 22-year sentence “is not nearly what I expected or believe was enough for taking my son’s life. But I am ok with it.” She explained that the sentence “was and is out of my control.” She was gratified to be able to face Tran and tell her directly her feelings. Furthermore, she added, the judge took to heart what she outlined in her impact statement.
Tran, under the state’s “truth in sentencing” laws, will have to spend all 15 years in prison with no chance at early release. After the sentence was handed down, the handcuffed and stoic-faced Tran was led out of the courtroom.
