A Massachusetts mother received a shockingly light sentence after she admitted to being responsible for her seriously ill three-year-old son's death. 

Jennifer Prudencio, 28, left her youngest son, Yael Guardado Prudencio, in the care of his eight-year-old and seven-year-old brothers on the night of April 6, 2024, when she went out drinking before spending the night at her boyfriend's place. 

Yael suffered from hemophilia and seizures, and during the last week of his life, he suffered a fall during a seizure that left him with a bloody wound on his face that wouldn't heal. He had vomited blood just days before he died. 

During the night Jennifer stayed at her boyfriend's place, her eldest son had texted her multiple times saying Yael was repeatedly vomiting. A video the eight-year-old sent his mom at 1am showed the toddler moaning and visibly distressed. 

Jennifer replied that she would be home soon, but she didn't return until 10am on April 7 – a whole nine hours later. 

When she arrived at her Chelsea apartment, a city just north of Boston, she found her three children in bed, but Yael was dead. 

Jennifer pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and three counts of reckless endangerment of a child in Suffolk Superior Court on Tuesday.

But the mom was sentenced to just four to six years in prison with 284 days of time served, as well as three years of probation set to begin after her release. 

She originally pleaded not guilty after she was indicted in June 2024 and was scheduled to go to trial in November. 

She changed her plea to guilty on August 11, according to court records reviewed by the Boston Globe, and was sentenced on Tuesday.

Although Jennifer changed her plea to guilty, prosecutors did not strike a deal with the defense because they argued there were aggravating factors that meant she should be sentenced above state guidelines. 

The mom's sentence appears to be a slap on the wrist given the severity of her crime, but Judge Joshua Wall actually agreed with the prosecution and gave her a sentence that was above what Massachusetts law recommended, according to Court TV. 

In the week before Yael died, his mother had taken him to the doctor twice, and they had discussed plans to add another medication to his regimen or increase his dose of anti-seizure medication, the outlet reported. 

But toxicology tests performed on the boy after he died showed undetectable levels of the medication in his blood.   

Jennifer's defense attorney argued during her sentencing hearing that she deserved leniency because 'she, at the time of this child’s death, was in essence, a child herself,' per Court TV. 

The lawyer, Peter Marano, said that his client was a 'child in an adult body' who had survived multiple abusive relationships and rape. His arguments, however, did not decrease Jennifer's sentence. 

Under the mother's probation terms, she will be prohibited from consuming alcohol or illicit drugs and will have to undergo mental health treatment after being released from prison. 

Jennifer will also have to take a parenting class if she wants to earn visitation rights or be reunited with her surviving children, who are now in the care of their grandmother.