Wisconsin Couple Sentenced To 15 Years For Child’s Death By Neglect

A West Bend, Wisconsin, couple was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the death of a 3-year-old girl Wednesday.

Justin Streicher pleaded no contest to neglecting a child, causing death, in February. Seven other drug-related charges were also considered at his sentencing but ultimately dismissed. The 25-year-old was found guilty. The 3-year-old’s mother, 26-year-old Leann Leszynski, made the same plea agreement in January and was also sentenced to 15 years. Both were ordered to serve 10 years of extended supervision upon their release from prison.

Haley Kluwe died May 1, 2012 from a streptococcus infection that had spread throughout her body after days of neglect. Neither Streicher nor Leszynski sought emergency medical attention for the girl after discovering her body. They called Streicher’s mother and asked her to take the two other children — Haley’s twin sister and an older sister — out of the apartment.

Streicher and Leszynski left Haley’s body in the apartment and went to buy cigarettes. Shortly afterward, Leszynski told her physician she wouldn’t be able to make an appointment and attempted to get a prescription filled. When she was told the prescription couldn’t be called in, she admitted that her daughter was dead, that she “must have stopped breathing or something,” and the doctor’s office alerted the police. Authorities found heroin, oxycodone, marijuana, and cocaine in the apartment during a search. They also found Haley’s bruised body.

The criminal complaint indicates that Leszynski told police that a clock fell on Haley, and a detective said the girl had significant brusiing on the left side of her face. Haley also had “blunt head and neck injuries,” according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s report. One witness even told police that he saw Streicher “blow marijuana into the mouth of Haley and tell her to inhale” to make her go to sleep.

A Change.org petition was started in order to get justice for Haley Kluwe. Supporters were asking that Justin Streicher and Leann Leszynski get the maximum penalty for her death. The petition gained 1,330 supporters but is now closed.

Do you think 15 years is a long enough sentence?