District Attorney Billy Joe Harrington announced the disposition of a recent juvenile cruelty case in the 10th Judicial District Court. At the onset of the jury trial for cruelty to a juvenile, Michelle Benjamin, 30, of Natchitoches, changed her plea to guilty to the charges. The case relates to a 2023 incident when two of Benjamin’s children were found in their house and restrained with zip-ties to a bed while she was sleeping. They were rescued by a visitor to the house who found them calling for help. At the court proceeding, District Court Judge Desiree Dyess accepted the plea agreement and sentenced Benjamin to 15 years of incarceration, to be served at hard labor for 10 years in the Department of Corrections and 5 years on supervised probation. First Assistant Cloyd Benjamin, Jr. (no relation) prosecuted the case. 

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