The Galesburg woman who pleaded guilty to strangling her 7-year-old daughter to death has been sentenced to decades in prison.
Circuit Court Judge Andrew Doyle sentenced 31-year-old Hazel Ivy to serve 53 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Ivy plead guilty but mentally ill earlier this year to the charge of First Degree Murder. Ivy will serve 100% of the sentence the court imposed.
While the court found that Ivy was mentally ill at the time she committed the crime, that finding was not going to impact her sentencing.
The sentencing hearing featured testimony from a forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy. She testified that the child suffered multiple stab wounds, blunt force trauma to the back of her head in addition to injuries consistent with strangulation.
State’s Attorney Jeremy Karlin called Ivy’s murder of her daughter of the most “gruesome crime scenes” he’s witnessed in a three-decade legal career.
Karlin says that ended up pursuing a plea deal for Ivy as he noticed signs of “significant trauma” in those connected to the case, such as witnesses, law enforcement, court personnel, and his own staff.
