Altom sentencing postponed in Perry County endangerment case

The sentencing of Michael and Emily Altom, Perry County parents who pleaded guilty in December to three counts of child endangerment, has been postponed.

The Altoms were scheduled to appear this afternoon in Rolla before Circuit Judge Tracy L. Storie. The Altom's attorney, Allen Moss of Cape Girardeau, on Thursday requested the delay. No new court date has been set.

The Altoms were charged with child endangerment and voluntary manslaughter in September 2005 following the death of 4-year-old Ethan Patrick Williams, Emily Altom's son from a previous relationship. Ethan died of a severe drug-resistant staph infection that hospitalized him for 25 days.

When child abuse and neglect investigators visited the Altoms's rural Perry County mobile home while Ethan was hospitalized, they discovered a home strewn with garbage and plates with rotting food piled on counters, reeking of animal feces and urine. It was the second time investigators visited the home and found conditions so unsanitary that they removed the children temporarily from the home.

Perry County Prosecuting Attorney Thomas Hoeh dropped the manslaughter charge because he said he could not conclusively link Ethan's illness to the conditions found in the home.

At the plea hearing in December, Hoeh told Storie that he intended to recommend probation for the Altoms.

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