Judge Denies Paynesville Woman’s Motion to Plea in Daughter’s Murder

(Learfield News/St. Cloud, MN) — A Stearns County judge is denying a Paynesville woman’s request to withdraw her guilty plea in the second-degree murder of her daughter with disabilities.

Thirty-nine-year-old Elise Nelson will be sentenced on November 21st.

Nelson’s new lawyer claimed she was coerced into signing the plea petition, didn’t have time to review it and also had ineffective counsel.

Prosecutors say Nelson disabled her daughter’s oxygen device in June of 2020 four days and deprived her of medical care.

Police found the child unresponsive, and she died at the Paynesville hospital.