Judge Won’t Lower Bail for Mom Accused of Killing Son, 5

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — A Montana judge denied a bail reduction request from one of three suspects charged in the killing of a 5-year-old boy in Great Falls.

Stephanie Grace Byington is accused in the beating death of her son, Antonio “Tony” Renova. Authorities say the trio killed the boy during the night of Nov. 19-20 after they had been drinking.

The Great Falls Tribune reports that Byington’s defense attorney argued on Monday that the 31-year-old suspect has no history of criminal violence and appeared to be less culpable than her co-defendants, Racso James Birdtail and Emilio Emmanuel Renova Sr., the boy’s father.

But Deputy County Attorney Mercedes Oxford-Kemp noted that Byington was previously charged in Billings with endangering the welfare of children, for exposing two young children to methamphetamine.

Judge Elizabeth Best ruled that bail Byington, 31, would remain at $500,000. She’s charged with deliberate homicide, assault on a minor, criminal child endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.

Her trial is scheduled for February 2021.