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Chester County Mother Sentenced In Beating Death Of 3-Year-Old Son

CHESTER COUNTY, Pa. (CBS) - The mother of a Chester County boy who was savagely beaten to death in 2014 has been sentenced to decades in prison in connection with his death.

Jillian Tait has been sentenced to 42 to94 years in prison for her role in the death of 3-year-old Scotty McMillan.

"She actively participated in the murder of her young son," said Chester County 1st Assistant District Attorney Mike Noone.

Noone says Tait and her boyfriend, Gary Fellenbaum, beat the 3-year-old to death. Investigators say the couple hung him upside down, beat him with homemade whips, a curtain rod and a frying pan. The two also beat Scotty's older brother. Now 9, the boy wrote a letter which Noone read at sentencing.

"He wishes he could go back in time so he could call the police or stop it. And he ended by saying that now his mother is going to be in her 'time-out' in jail," read Noone.

Tait avoided first degree murder and life in prison when she agreed to testify against Fellenbaum. He pleaded guilty earlier this year and was sentenced to life plus 10 to 20 years in prison. His wife, Amber Fellenbaum, who also lived in the trailer, is sentenced to one-and-a-half to 16 years in prison for failing to call police about the abuse.

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