West Yellowstone woman sentenced for ‘horrific’ murder of 12-year-old grandson
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BOZEMAN, Montana — Patricia Batts of West Yellowstone, Montana, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for the deliberate homicide of her 12-year-old grandson, James “Alex” Hurley in West Yellowstone, KBZK reported.
In May, Batts pleaded guilty to the charge of deliberate homicide of James. She also pleaded guilty to criminal child endangerment and tampering with informants or witnesses at a change-of-plea hearing.
For deliberate homicide, Gallatin County District Court Judge John Brown sentenced Batts to life in the Montana State Women’s Prison. For criminal child endangerment and tampering with informants or witnesses, she will serve 10 years for each charge. Each sentence will be served concurrently.
Batts is the last of five people to be sentenced in the brutal 2020 murder.
Her husband, James Sasser Jr., pleaded guilty to felony deliberate homicide and was sentenced to 100 years in March 2022.
Gage Roush, who was 18 at the time of James’ death and a family friend, was given a five-year deferred sentence and required counseling after having pleaded guilty to felony assault on a minor.
James’ aunt, Madison Sasser, was sentenced to youth probation with the Montana Department of Corrections until she’s 21; she will remain on probation until she is 25.
Lastly, a teen-aged relative who lived in the home was charged as a minor.
During sentencing, Brown said that the video evidence showing the various ways in which Batts “systematically” abused James was the most “horrific” he had ever seen during his time on the bench. The torture and abuse committed in this case, Brown said, was intentional and committed with a deep malevolence that was completely contrary to the instincts a grandmother should have, according to The Bozeman Chronicle.
James lived with the Batts for the last two years of his life. His body was found in the family’s living room in February 2020.
The family described James as becoming “suicidal,” “erratic,” and “hearing voices,” CNN reported at the time. They also claimed James deliberately tried to hurt himself by running himself into an entertainment center.
Despite the family’s claims, detectives weren’t able to find any record of the family reporting these alleged behaviors to law enforcement, nor was there any record of the family attempting to get medical or psychiatric help for James, detectives said.
During the investigation, detectives seized the cell phones of the uncle and grandparents and put together a timeline based on videos of abuse dating back to December 2019, CNN reported. Videos found on the cell phones showed a pattern of abuse that included forced exercises and physical abuse, according to court documents.
Instances of the abuse included James being forced to do exercises — jumping jacks and wall squats — along with standing in front of a fan with no clothing but his underwear, according to court documents. Videos reviewed by detectives also showed the defendants spraying James in the face with an unknown substance that burned him and choked him.
By the time of his death, James was “emaciated”, “starved” and had been subjected to “forced exercise” as well as routinely beaten, according to court documents.
MontanaRightNow.com reported Batts appeared to get emotional as she listened to her family’s victim statements.
“I regret not being the grandmother Alex should’ve had,” Batts reportedly said in a statement.