Jessica Jensen, 36, Kenmare, was sentenced to 40 years in prison, with 15 years suspended, on Friday morning for the murder of her 13-year-old son, Aidan Edward Bossingham, in January 2014.

North Central District Court Judge Gary Lee also sentenced Jensen to five years in prison on a Class C felony child abuse charge for the neglect of her two surviving children and five years in prison for possession of methamphetamine that she obtained from another inmate at the Ward County Jail in September 2014. Both sentences will run concurrently with the sentence for murder. A Class C felony charge for failure to report a death of a child was dismissed. Jensen must serve at least 21 years and three months of her 25 sentence under state law. She will receive credit for 561 days already served in the Ward County Jail. She will be on five years of supervised probation after she is released from prison and will be required to register as an offender against children.

Jensen’s 13-year-old son weighed 21 pounds when he died from chronic starvation due to untreated juvenile appetite disorder. Although he is called John Doe I in court documents, the boy was identified in news reports and an obituary listing as Aidan Edward Bossingham. According to court documents, the boy was the size of a 2- or 3-year-old child and his body was gaunt, with bones and joints visible under his skin. His body also had bruises and contusions. Jensen said Aidan had been diagnosed with a hormonal growth problem and his pituitary gland didn’t function properly. He had been treated by a doctor in Fargo and prescribed daily injections, but Jensen didn’t think the shots were working and stopped taking her son to a doctor. The boy had last seen a doctor in November 2008. Jensen said the children didn’t have a regular physician because she believed she could “solve the problems.” The boy’s older brother told authorities that his mother made medicine for Aidan from information she found online. When his brother died, the older boy said his mother looked online for information about how to “bring him back.” Family members told authorities that Jensen resisted their attempts to intervene and make her get help for the child and that she seemed to treat Aidan differently than her other two. Jensen’s former husband told authorities that he had left the family home in July or August of 2013 and had last seen the boy at Christmas 2013. He told authorities he had no say in the children’s care.

On the day he died, Jensen claimed to have fed the boy oatmeal for breakfast and later yogurt and a Sprite soft drink. In the evening, she claimed to have fed him four ounces of homemade Pedialyte. She said she put him in a shower to cool him off because he seemed lethargic. Then she held him in a blanket because he wasn’t feeling well. At some point, he felt cold so she called 911. However, the boy’s stomach was empty when an autopsy was performed. There was no injury to his throat that would indicate recent vomiting. State Medical Examiner William Massello said the boy’s medical conditions would have been treatable.

Lee noted that Jensen, who was supposedly homeschooling the children, had also neglected the two surviving children, a boy who was 14 and a girl who was 6 1/2 when their brother died. Lee said the two surviving children were left in a “near feral condition” without the academic or social skills that would have been expected for their ages. Lee said she hadn’t filed intents to home school the children with the local school district for years and had not filed results of required standardized testing. Both surviving children are now enrolled in public school and are doing well, said Lee. He has forbidden any contact between Jensen and the surviving children for the remainder of their lives.

At one point Jensen burst into tears in court and apologized for not getting help for Aidan or for herself.

“I’m sorry to everybody that I hurt,” she said. She added that her son might still be here if she had.

Jensen acknowledged that she withheld necessary care and treatment from her son.

“I admit that I did not get him the help he needed,” she said.

According to court documents, Jensen called police to report her son’s death on the evening of Jan. 12, 2014. A police officer arrived to find Jensen sitting on a couch with the boy in her arms. The officer was unable to find the boy’s pulse. He tried to administer CPR but could not administer breaths because rigor mortis had set in. The child was taken to the Kenmare hospital, where he was declared dead by a nurse practitioner, who said he appeared to have been dead for some time. His body temperature was 80 degrees.

Jensen was charged with Class AA murder in March 2014. She was later evaluated and found competent to stand trial. Judge Lee rejected a plea deal in July that would have called for Jensen to serve just 16 years in prison. He said it would not serve the interests of justice.

Later, Lee rejected a motion from the defense to suppress statements Jensen made and a search of her home after her son’s death. Lee also had deferred a ruling on a change of venue for the trial, which had been set for April 2016.

On Thursday, Lee agreed to the second plea deal worked out between the state and the defense.

While he is aware of the passions stirred by the case and has seen social media postings calling for a stiff sentence for Jensen, Lee said vengeance does not necessarily equal justice.

Lee said there were several reasons for his decision. He puts trust in the state’s decision. He also said he wanted to spare 14 potential jurors the trauma of the trial and seeing the autopsy photos of the dead child, photos Lee wishes he had not seen. He said the plea deal means that those autopsy photos will never have to become public. He also agreed to the plea deal because it is final and there will be no risk that an error at some point in the process could lead to a second trial.

“This sentence lets this poor child rest in peace,” said Lee.

Lee also said he was influenced by the recent visit of Pope Francis. While he is not Catholic, Lee said he respects the Pope and his message that justice should be tempered with compassion and care.

“This sentence, though lengthy, offers both hope and rehabilitation,” said Lee.

Lee said he believes time in prison is punishment, despite those who might believe otherwise. Prisoners lose control over when they wake up, when they go to bed, what they eat and what they do. They are “just marking time” and will miss weddings, funerals and baptisms while they are confined to a jail cell, said Lee.

Lee also praised both attorneys in the case, Ward County Deputy State’s Attorney Kelly Dillon and Jensen’s defense attorney, Tyler Morrow. Lee said Dillon has acted with the utmost professionalism even though he knows the circumstances of the case got to her. Morrow presented a good defense, said Lee, who said he had similar experiences as a lawyer defending a client who is at the top of everyone’s list to be hung, shot, stoned or, as in this case, starved to death.