Katrina Swartz breathed a sigh of relief Tuesday morning when the man who killed her son was sentenced to eight years in prison.
“I feel satisfied with that. I think he deserved what he was given,” she said outside court through a sign language interpreter.
“Chase deserves this justice.”
Chase Gregoire-Swartz was killed in 2012. He was seven weeks old.
Court heard that he had been shaken, and hit in the head with a hard object as Swartz slept in the next room.
Last month, his father Bobby Gregoire pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the infant’s death.
At Tuesday’s sentencing, the judge condemned Gregoire for putting himself ahead of his son by not telling paramedics that he had shaken and struck Chase.
Gregoire stayed quiet during the proceeding, occasionally lifting his head to glance around the courtroom.
Swartz said that the verdict gave her a sense of relief, allowing her to carry on with her life.
“I don’t have to attend court and I don’t have to think about this all the time,” she said.
With credit for time already served, Gregoire has five years and eight months left to serve.
