Eckley

Defendant Jeanette Eckley was convicted of one count of felony child abuse and one count of misdemeanor child abuse. The court denied probation and sentenced her to the middle term of four years’ imprisonment on the felony charge and a concurrent six-month term on the misdemeanor charge. We conclude that the court’s reliance on sentencing documents (a probation report, two psychological reports, and a letter from a prison administrator) containing material factual misstatements necessitates a remand for a new probation and sentencing hearing.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORIES

Defendant is a single mother of five children. Before her arrest, she was employed as a social worker at Kern County Child Protective Services. The chain of events leading to her arrest began one day when she was having trouble controlling the behavior of her nine-year-old son. As she had done on previous occasions, defendant became upset and struck him with her hand, hitting his face three times, causing bruises.

A few days later, while the son still had bruises on his face, defendant bought the children some sandwiches from a sandwich shop. An employee dropped a dirty mayonnaise jar into one of…