After nine years of legal battles and a bout in prison, Yost, who was awaiting a second trial for murder, agreed to plead no contest to first-degree child abuse. She was set free the same day.
While Donna Yost, 49, has been the center of the court case, the heart of the matter was always the 7-year-old girl who died on Oct. 10, 1999... Prosecutors contended Monique Yost died because Donna Yost gave her a fatal dose of antidepressant to head off an investigation into alleged sexual abuse of the child by a teenage friend and others.
Yost's lawyer, Bay City attorney Edward M. Czuprynski, maintains Monique died due to a defective heart and not an overdose.
