A Douglas, Wyo., woman agreed to spend at least the next 10 years in prison for causing her 81-year-old mother’s death.
Edwina “GiGi” Leman, 54, pleaded guilty to one count of elder abuse and no contest to one count of voluntary manslaughter this month for breaking her mother’s femur, which led to health complications that ended up killing her.
Leman accepted the parameters of a plea agreement that allow her to serve no fewer than 10 years while prosecutors can ask for up to 20 years, the legal maximum for manslaughter. The terms will be decided at sentencing.
Court documents say Leman was in the bathroom with her elderly mother, Mary Davis, on Dec. 28, 2023. Leman’s son heard her berating the older woman; then he heard a thump. The son walked into the bathroom to find Leman tugging at her mother’s leg while Davis screamed in pain.
Leman told Davis not to be dramatic and called her “Mary-gina,” a vulgar term that implies weakness, the evidentiary affidavit says.
Eleven days later, Davis died of complications from a compound femur fracture, according to the coroner’s findings.
When Confessing…
Leman hesitated during her July 8 change-of-plea hearing when Converse County District Court Judge F. Scott Peasley asked her to give a factual account of the abuse her mother suffered.
“Would you also agree that you caused injury to Ms. Davis?” asked Leman’s attorney Denny Harts, as part of a question-and-answer series designed to support Leman’s guilty plea with facts.
“Well, I agree that injury occurred when I was in the room with her, yes,” answered Leman, according to the hearing transcript.
Harts made his questioning more specific, asking Leman if she intentionally injured Davis.
“Yes, sir,” answered Leman.
Leman did not have to give a confession for her manslaughter conviction since she pleaded no contest to that charge. She listened to Converse County Deputy Attorney Nathaniel Shumway describe evidence that he said showed she had killed her mother in a sudden heat of passion, and she agreed with his characterization.
Harts did not immediately respond to a phone message requesting additional comment.
Leman had originally faced a second-degree murder charge instead of voluntary manslaughter and an additional charge of aggravated assault. She remains incarcerated ahead of her sentencing hearing, which will happen on a later date her court file indicates.
Frustrated
The case came under investigation after Converse County Sheriff’s Lt. Ben Peech learned on Jan. 2 that Mary Davis had just days to live, following the femur fracture from five days prior, the affidavit says.
Peech learned that David had been living with Leman. He learned from family members that Leman was frustrated with Davis and would scream at her and call her names. She’d strike Davis on the head at times and would push her when she was walking with her walker, the affidavit says.
If Davis hadn’t had the support of her walker when Leman pushed her, the older woman would have fallen, one family member said.
A Temper
Leman admits to pushing her mother down, according to her own police interview. She said she was frustrated with Davis and admitted calling her “Mary-gina.”
While Davis was in the bathroom the day of the femur fracture, Leman removed her clothing more forcibly than she needed to, the document relates.
Leman said she swatted her mother on the head at times, the affidavit said. She admitted to police that she had a temper.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
