New hearing approved for Boise daycare provider convicted of killing toddler

A woman sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of killing a 2-year-old child will get a hearing that could lead to a new trial.

The Idaho Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled a lower court wrongly rejected Katherine Stanfield’s request for post-conviction relief based on ineffective assistance from her attorney.

The ruling means an evidentiary hearing will be held in the 4th District Court to consider evidence not brought up in the trial that includes whether the child’s father might have caused the injuries.

Stanfield ran a daycare center and was convicted of first-degree murder in 2012 following the 2009 death of Wyatt Fesler.

Prosecutors argued the pronounced bleeding and swelling in the boy’s brain, along with other injuries, show that he died as the result of aggravated battery.