A Fayette woman who was charged with a felony in relation to the suicide of an area teenager changed her plea to one of the lesser charges and was sentenced this week.
According to a probable-cause statement, Harley Kaitlynn Branham was alleged to have harassed Kenneth Suttner, causing emotional distress between October 6 and November 30, 2016.
According to online court documents, Branham originally was charged with a felony for involuntary manslaughter after the findings of a Coroner’s Jury in late January 2017; but that charge was dismissed by the court. On March 5, 2018, Branham entered a plea of not guilty to updated charges of a Class D Felony for Aggravated Stalking and misdemeanors for assault in the third degree and harassment.
During her court proceeding on Friday, July 12, the state dropped most of the charges, and Branham withdrew her plea of not guilty and pleaded guilty to a Class A Misdemeanor for Third-Degree Assault. Branham was sentenced to 180 days in the Howard County Jail, however the sentence was suspended, and Branham was placed on two years of supervised probation. She also was ordered to 30 days of shock detention, and for it to be served as house arrest or home detention at the direction of the Missouri Department of Probation and Parole, commencing at 8 a.m. on Monday, August 5.