CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The trial of a Clarksville woman charged with first-degree murder in 2019 after the death of her son is set to begin next week.
Yvette Slee, now 29, was convicted of attempted murder in 2013 after abusing her then-infant son, David “Monkey” Slee III. David survived that abuse but suffered severe impairments. He died at just 7 years old on May 30, 2018.
Grand jury indictment
A year after David’s death, a grand jury returned a first-degree murder charge for Slee.
She is serving a 22-year sentence at West Tennessee State Penitentiary on one count of first-degree attempted murder and two counts of aggravated child abuse and neglect. According to the Tennessee Department of Corrections website, Slee’s current sentence would end Dec. 5, 2029.
The new indictment, dated Feb. 4, 2019, connects the abuse directly to David’s death.
The original investigation revealed Slee had put a plastic bag over her son’s head and tried to suffocate him. David spent several weeks at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, according to previous reporting from the Leaf-Chronicle.
The abuse caused David to continue suffering from seizures, physical and intellectual disabilities, blindness and partial deafness, according to his grandmother, Priscilla Dakin.
Slee’s attorney, Wayne Clemmons, said his client opted for a bench trial this time, meaning there will be no jury, and the presiding judge will make the final decision. Clemmons declined to comment further on the case.
Family’s grief
Dakin, the mother of David’s father, David Slee Jr., told Clarksville Now the district attorney said at the end of Slee’s first trial that if anything were to happen to David, and if it were connected to his original injuries, Yvette Slee would be retried.
“We watched him suffer for all these years. We did everything we could for him,” Dakin said. “His seizures kept getting worse. He couldn’t walk, or talk or tell me he loved me. But he knew, he knew our voices.”
Dakin said little David was her lifeline after her husband Ronald passed away unexpectedly in 2016.
“He kept getting pneumonia. After the pneumonia, I think (David had it) six times in one year; it just kept damaging his lungs, and it came to where he just couldn’t fight no more,” Dakin said.
Their family is no stranger to illness, either. After her husband passed, Dakin suffered three strokes, and then she had a rough time dealing with COVID-19 over the past summer. She now uses a motor scooter to get around, and she had to make special accommodations to attend the trial in the coming week.
She isn’t hopeful about the outcome of the trial.
“He’s gone; she still has her life, whether it’s in prison or not. She’s walking and talking, and she’s on a pen pal page for girls in prison. She has a life,” Dakin said.
The prosecution declined to comment on the upcoming trial, which begins Monday, March 29, in Judge William Goodman’s court.