NEW ULM — A 39-year-old New Ulm woman originally charged with 16 counts of assault, malicious punishment of a child and child neglect was sentenced to 3 years supervised probation and 6 days sentence to service Tuesday, Oct. 3.

Alisha Kay Miller, 1432 Center, pleaded guilty one count of 3rd-degree assault – past pattern of child abuse Sept. 14, 2023. The remaining counts were dismissed. Her sentence is a stay of imposition. Successful probation completion will result in a misdemeanor conviction.

Miller was sentenced to 12 days in the Brown County Jail. She may do 6 days sentence to service in lieu of jail. She was fined $460 and ordered to have no contact with victims until probation has completed a domestic violence or further court order, complete a domestic abuse assessment and follow recommendation. She was ordered not to use alcohol or controlled substances exception prescribed medications.

A four-day jury trial for Miller’s husband, Jesse Hedlund is scheduled for Oct. 17-20, 2023 in Brown County District Court.

According to court documents, Miller and Jesse C. Hedlund, 41, were charged after a school resource officer (SRO) noticed a Jefferson Elementary School student with facial bruises for the second time since Jan. 20, 2023; plus red scrapes and a laceration.

New Ulm Police Senior Investigator Jeff Hohensee, New Ulm Police Investigator Tara Martin and a Brown County Human Services social worker known as “the team” met with a second victim at New Ulm Middle School who identified Miller as her mother and Hedlund as her stepfather. In addition, she said discipline at home included writing up to 1,000 pages of sentences about any infraction.

The team noticed yellow, facial bruising on the second victim. The first witness said he wrote up to 2,000 pages of sentences, including 40 pages in one night, and that her step-siblings did not get to eat or had to eat late if they were being disciplined and writing sentences.

In addition, he said his home was “not normally” safe and had been that way since Hedlund and Miller married on Sept. 20, 2020.

Witnesses three and four talked about various forms of discipline used by Hedlund and Miller. The couple was arrested. Victims were taken to the Midwest Children’s Resource Center (MCRC) in St. Paul.

An MCRC complaint summary read “exposure to adverse childhood experiences are known to result in significant, long-term physical and mental health consequences.”