ONLY ONE YEAR IN JAIL FOR MURDERING A TODDLER???

Insanity sure is a handy defence

Prosecutors and the father of a drowned girl are protesting a judge's decision to allow the 2-year-old's mother, who pleaded guilty in the death, to be released early from prison. Judi L. Noe was sentenced in March 2005 to five years in prison after pleading guilty but mentally ill to reckless homicide for drowning her daughter, Brieana Jaide Noe, then keeping her decomposing body in an apartment for nearly three weeks.

Allen Superior Court Judge John Surbeck Jr. on Feb. 23 approved Noe's early release from prison and moved her to the county's re-entry program, which requires weekly court appearances and provides counseling and job-search assistance. Michael McAlexander, Allen County's chief deputy prosecutor, said he was concerned about Noe's mental health and whether she received treatment while in prison. "We are not particularly happy that (the sentence) has been changed that dramatically," McAlexander said Thursday.

The girl's father, Brad May, wrote a letter to Surbeck saying he was disgusted by the ruling and that he believed it was a miscarriage of justice. Surbeck's order allows Noe to be released from prison three months early. Noe completed a vocational building trade course, which shaved six months off her sentence, said Javairya Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the Department of Correction. Noe was scheduled to be transferred Monday from the Rockville Correctional Facility to Allen County Community Corrections, Ahmed said.

Surbeck defended his decision and said prison officials reported Noe had no bad conduct reports during her time as an inmate. "I know the offense was a terrible offense. We dealt with that at sentencing," Surbeck said. "She will be carefully monitored as I promised at sentencing."

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