The state failed 5-year-old murder victim Robert Sarten

Cedar Mae Sarten, convicted of twisting the neck of her child when he was 16 months old, now faces a murder charge following the boy’s death. He was 5 years old.

She was arrested Tuesday in Seattle, the Daily News-Miner reports.

Robert Sarten died October 14 in a 10th Avenue apartment in Fairbanks. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s clear that he should never have been left with his mother.

One month before Robert was murdered, the Alaska Court of Appeals upheld a 2022 court conviction that Cedar Mae Sarten had recklessly endangered the life of her child when they were in an exam room at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital in July 2020.

Cedar Mae was at the hospital in 2020 for a “mental health issue,” the court said.

An emergency department technician held the toddler while a nurse took Cedar Mae’s vital signs. The technician and the nurse, along with two police officers who watched from the door, were clear about what happened next.

“All four witnesses testified that Sarten then went to the child, put her hands on either side of his head, and jerked or twisted the head of the child. All four witnesses believed that the child was in danger of serious physical injury,” the Court of Appeals said on September 14.

The police officers thought it was attempted murder, but the district attorney reduced the charge to “reckless endangerment,” a misdemeanor.

“District Attorney Joseph Dallaire said by email Wednesday that the decision to charge reckless endangerment instead of attempted murder was based on what the evidence showed, including video footage,” the News-Miner said.

Cedar Mae was convicted and sentenced to 10 days in jail. She appealed the decision.

The appeals court said, “we have viewed the video and, viewing it in the light most favorable to the verdict, we conclude that the video is consistent with the witnesses’ testimony that Sarten placed her hands on either side of the infant’s head and jerked or twisted it.”

On September 26, three weeks before Robert’s murder, a Fairbanks Superior Court approved an agreement between Cedar Mae and the child’s father, Robert Gagner, for joint legal custody.

“According to the parenting plan agreement, Sarten and Gagner agreed that they did not have concerns about the safety of their child with either parent. Sarten and Gagner agreed that Robert Sarten would be with Cedar Mae Sarten Sunday through Friday evening and with Gagner Friday evening through Sunday,” the News-Miner reported.