A woman charged with killing a 22-month-old girl withdrew an insanity plea and pleaded not guilty to first-degree reckless homicide. The La Crosse Tribune reports that 23-year-old Amanda Butts of Osseo changed her plea on Tuesday, will be tried later this year in Trempealeau County Circuit Court.
Butts is charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the June 22 death of Alexis Behlke, her boyfriend’s daughter, by giving her Oxycodone and Benadryl. While Butts, who cared for the girl while her boyfriend was at work, told police the toddler had been whiny all day and wouldn’t sleep, the child’s siblings gave a different account, telling investigators they saw Butts throw the girl to the floor and push a pill down her throat, according to the criminal complaint.
The Dane County medical examiner determined Behlke died from the combined effects of Oxycodone and the antihistamine diphenydramine as well as amitriptyline, an antidepressant,