Mai Neng Xiong, a St. Paul woman who in November grabbed her 7-year-old daughter's ear with channel-lock pliers as punishment, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court to threatening to kill that daughter, her husband and two of their other children.
St. Paul mom who used pliers to punish child pleads guilty
March 2, 2011 at 2:07AM
Xiong, 39, pleaded guilty to one count of felony terroristic threats. A second count had been dismissed in January. She will be sentenced April 12 by District Judge Joanne Smith.
According to the criminal complaint and court testimony, Xiong met with her husband in a parking lot on Dec. 18 and sat in his car. They argued about money, she said Tuesday.
The complaint said that Xiong "said she didn't understand why her child did not die" and that she planned to kill her family and then herself. Her husband had to wrest a lighter from her when she tried to set newspapers on fire inside the car.
Xiong had undergone a mental health evaluation and had been found competent to stand trial. She was ordered to have no contact with her husband and children. She was sentenced in January to the 70 days she had spent in jail and was put on probation for five years in the pliers incident.
PAT PHEIFER
