HASTINGS, Mich. -- A mother who pleaded no contest to neglect charges after her infant daughter apparently suffered severe burns in a microwave oven was sentenced to five years probation and 100 hours of community service.
Claudia Raynes, 32, also was ordered by visiting Circuit Judge Charles Simons Jr. to seek mental health counseling if such treatment is considered necessary by her probation officer.
Raynes' 2-year-old daughter, Tracy, suffered third-degree burns on her abdomen, right foot and left hand from the October 1982 incident.
Raynes has consistently denied placing the child in the microwave although doctors and company representatives have said that was the only explanation for the girl's extensive burns.
Simons, who issued the sentence Wednesday, also issued a six-month suspended sentence to be served in the event Raynes violates the terms of her probation.
'She's bombing around like any 2-year-old,' lawyer William Mills said of the girl. 'The child and mother have bonded well. They're glad it's over and now they want to put this all to rest.'
Simons was assigned to the case when Barry Circuit Judge Hudson Deming was disqualified for refusing to accept Raynes' attempts to plead guilty and no contest to the neglect charges.
Deming said he rejected the guilty plea because there was insufficient evidence of her guilt. He later refused the no contest plea because of the evidence presented when she tried to plead guilty.
