Sentencing in Elder Abuse Case

Washoe County District Attorney Announces Sentencing in Abuse Case Involving 84 Year Old Victim

October 4, 2016

Reno, Nevada

Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks announces that a Reno woman was sentenced to prison last Friday, September 30, 2016 in Department 3 of Washoe County District Court on charges of battering an elderly female relative.  The charges stemmed from a February, 2016 domestic abuse case investigated by the Reno Police Department.  The victim in the case was 84 years old at the time and suffered significant injuries at the hands of her granddaughter, who pled guilty to the charges against her earlier this year.    

Kaylynn Marie Ott, 27 years old from Reno was charged with one count of Battery by Strangulation of an Elderly Person, one count of Elder Abuse Causing Substantial Bodily Harm and one count of Battery with a Deadly Weapon on an Elderly Person. Due to the victim’s age, two of the crimes carried an additional consecutive penalty range of 1 to 20 years in prison.  Ott pled guilty with no negotiations offered by the DA’s Office in August of this year, the week before trial was set to commence.

The case against Ott began on February 19, 2016 when the Reno Police Department (RPD) responded to a report of a domestic battery.  The victim in the case had called to report that her granddaughter was trying to kill her. When RPD officers arrived, they met with the victim and found the 84 year old Reno woman seated in a chair outside her home with blood covering her head and clothing. RPD officers determined that the victim had been attacked by Ott following a verbal argument that began when the victim told Ott that she was going to call her father and tell him that she (Ott) had been drinking. The victim told the officers that this angered OTT, who responded by knocking the victim down, pinning her to the ground and hitting her with a cordless phone while repeatedly saying “die bitch, die.” According to the victim, Ott eventually stopped the attack and left the room.  The victim, who had injured an ankle in the fall, took several minutes to get up and call police. When the victim was examined, it was found that she had sustained a large cut to her head, numerous areas of bruising and swelling on her face and head, multiple cuts and scratches to her face, head and arms and a deep bite mark to her arm.

During sentencing, Prosecutor Nathan MacLellan argued for the maximum prison sentence of 30-75 years based on the viciousness of the attack.  MacLellan described the physical and emotional trauma the victim had sustained and pointed out that Ott had smashed the cordless phone onto the victim’s throat, rendering her unconscious and causing deep bruising from her chin to her chest.  He also described the multiple and severe injuries inflicted on the frail victim, including the chunk of flesh that Ott had bitten off the victim’s arm as she tried to defend herself from the attack. In addition, MacLellan played a jail call in which Ott described the beating by saying, “…she started calling the cops so I beat the crap outta her” as well as “…she started calling the cops for no reason so I was going to give her a God damn reason, that’s what happened!” 

The Court sentenced Ott to a term of 16 ½ years in prison with parole eligibility in 5 years.