A Suttons Bay woman and her partner were sentenced in Circuit Court Monday to 12 to 20 years in prison after child abuse convictions.
Skylar Korson was found guilty in November of three counts of child abuse ranging from first, second and fourth degree.
Her accomplice Joaquin Maddox, also of Suttons Bay, was sentenced to roughly 13 to 20 years imprisonment after pleading no contest to first, second and third-degree child abuse.
The crimes occurred from 2020 to 2023 against their three children of 3 and 4-years-old, and an 8-month-old.
Retired District Court Judge Michael Haley presided over Korson’s case. Leelanau County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Tristan Chamberlain represented the state. Korson was represented by attorney Mattias Johnson. For Maddox, District Court Judge Kevin Elsenheimer presided, and William Burdette defended Maddox.
The sentencing revealed several grim details about the three children’s environment including living in squalor, neglectful parenting, to name a few.
One of Judge Haley’s biggest factors for sentencing of Korson included one of the children’s severely damage teeth. A dental hygienist took the stand in November during trial saying that it was the worst she had seen in 40 years.
Korson’s sentencing was held with a testimony from the current foster mother for the three children that have been in her care for 22 months. She has asked to remain anonymous.
“(Two of the children ages 5 and 4-years-old at the time) were non-verbal, weren’t potty trained and couldn’t use food utensils,” she stated. “(One child, 8-months-old) couldn’t crawl, had a terrible diaper rash and a wound around the ear.”
She did note, that after a few weeks of “tummy time” the baby was able to sit up and is able to crawl and has hit every milestone including being in the 50% percentile.
The foster mother revealed the children had a problem with taking their hands and or other peoples hand and place it on their personal private areas.
“It took months of explaining to not do that,” she said.
She even mentioned that the children were scared to even come out of their bedrooms, and it took over a year for them to get used to that.
At first, the children would stand in the room defecating and urinating and it didn’t bother them to have a spoiled diaper on, according to the foster mother.
“We were able to potty train them within six months,” she said. “These are now lifelong struggles.”
Korson did defend herself with her own remarks.
“It’s been a difficult time for me and my family. I genuinely love (my children) and I took care of them as much as I could,” she pleaded to the judge. “I love to be with my kids all of the time. They were always smiley and never witnessed any of that ... My kids were traumatized when they were taken from me ... I’ll do anything to get them back.”
Korson was offered a plea deal that would of revoked her parental rights in 2024, but denied.
“I’m not the person being made out to be. It’s not who I am and I would never intentionally hurt my children.”
The judge and Korson had a tense sentencing portion with discussion that remained civil.
“God only knows what those (children) are looking at down the road,” Haley said. “They don’t make programs for this problem ... That admits a failure in part of the justice system.”
The judge admitted this was not an easy decision that kept him up at night.
Korson has had five unsuccessful discharges from probation over previous years.
The judge noted reference letters sent by Korson’s family, which repulsed Haley.
“Blah blah blah which is the nicest thing I can say in the record ... Not even a lip service to those kids,” Haley said. “My goal is to separate (Korson) from these kids as long as possible so they don’t have any influence from what you have to offer. All you offer is a life of hell.”
Leelanau County Assistant Prosecutor Tristian Chamberlain had this to say.
“Facts of this case represent a level of cruelty and neglect that is nearly unparalleled,” he said. “There are scars these children will endure for the rest of their lives.”
