Woman pleads guilty to accountability in son's beating death

GREAT FALLS (AP) — A Montana woman has pleaded guilty to accountability to deliberate homicide in the November 2019 beating death of her 5-year-old son in Great Falls.

Stephanie Grace Byington, 33, entered pleas on July 1 to the homicide charge and to felony child endangerment for the death of Antonio "Tony" Renova, the Great Falls Tribune reported. Her trial had been scheduled for later this month in Kalispell.

The boy's father, Emilio Renova, 32, faces trial next month in Polson for deliberate homicide, assault on a minor, child endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.

Byington's sentencing is set for Aug. 9. The state has not made any sentencing recommendations. It's likely her sentencing will be delayed until after Renova's trial, the newspaper reported.

Antonio Renova, who is Native American, had been living with a white foster family for years before being returned to his biological parents in early 2019, officials have said.

A third person, Racso James Birdtail, was initially charged with deliberate homicide in the boy's death, but in February pleaded no contest to assault on a minor by accountability and tampering with evidence. District Court Judge Elizabeth Best released Birdtail on his own recognizance pending sentencing.

Birdtail was arrested Tuesday on a separate charge.