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ST. GEORGE — A woman who attempted to murder her then 8-year-old son at the St. George Motel 6 in 2021 was sentenced Thursday to a year in jail.
Megan Michelle Stewart, who turns 30 next Wednesday, had made a plea agreement with Washington County prosecutors in June to plead guilty to the first-degree charge of attempted murder in exchange for lesser charges, including child abuse, to be dropped.
In the agreement, Stewart admitted to attempting to suffocate her son with a pillow at Motel 6 on 1000 East in St. George on Aug. 26, 2021, then stabbing him in the neck with scissors. The murder attempt drew a large police response.
During the hearing at the 5th District Courthouse, Judge John Walton agreed to the terms of the agreement withholding the usual prison sentence for the crime of three years to life in state prison. Instead, Stewart will be jailed for the next year at Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane, where she has been held since August 2021. She will not be credited with time served but could be released early with good behavior.
In addition, Walton ordered 48 months' probation for Stewart once she is released from jail, which prohibits unsupervised contact with children under 18. That includes her son, who is now 10 years old and is in the process of being adopted by Stewart's out-of-state brother and wife, Stewart's defense lawyer Ryan Stout said.
