BELFAST, Maine, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- A judge in Maine has decided a 32-year-old woman will not serve prison time for killing her husband, who abused her and her 10-year-old daughter.
Waldo County Superior Court Justice Jeffrey Hjelm suspended the eight-year prison sentence Amber Cummings had agreed to under a plea deal in the shooting death of her 29-year-old husband James The Bangor (Maine) Daily News reported.
Cummings had agreed to the eight-year term, with all but one year suspended, when she pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in November.
While Hjelm suspended the entire prison sentence Friday, he said Cummings she will still have to serve six years of probation.
"She will now stand as a convicted criminal," Hjelm said. "This is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. The real sentence is eight years."
During Cummings' trial, information revealed how the defendant and her daughter were routinely abused both emotionally and physically by James Cummings. Provided information also showed James Cummings sexually abused his wife on more than one occasion.
The Daily News said Amber Cummings shot her husband Dec. 9, 2008, in their Waldo County home as he was sleeping. As part of her sentence, Cummings must continue to undergo therapy and not leave the state of Maine during her probation period.
