SEATTLE — A Davis woman pleaded guilty and was sentenced after assaulting her two-year-old daughter on a flight from Mexico to Seattle in May 2024.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington, the woman was arrested at Sea-Tac airport on May 1. She was identified as Breanna R. Mistler, 33 of Davis.
Mistler was sentenced to time served and a year of federal supervision. She also begins serving a four-month sentence in California for an arson conviction in September and her federal supervision will start after.
At the sentencing, Mistler's attorney said she he is now “sober, reflective and remorseful and currently has supervised visits with her daughter,” according to a news release.
“You are taking steps …. I hope you start over with a more stable life – you have a very young child, and she deserves that,” Judge Brian Tsuchida said at the sentencing.
Case History
Citing the criminal complaint, officials said multiple passengers saw Mistler abuse her daughter on the flight. One person said she shook the child "like a rag doll."
Prosecutors wrote to the court about the vulnerability of the child: the victim “was two years old, and trapped in the window seat on an airplane. Given her young age and her physical confinement, she had no recourse to resist or avoid being hit, kicked, or shaken by her mother.”
Officials said other passengers tried to intervene, but Mistler continued with the abuse.
Customers and Border Protection officers detained her at the airport and said there were bruises on the toddler in multiple places. The Port of Seattle Police and the FBI took over the investigation.
Officials said Child Protective Services was involved with placing the child with a relative.
After ordering Mistler detained, a judge said he was concerned about the child's safety since Mistler allegedly assaulted her daughter in front of so many people on a long plane trip. He said he had an "independent duty to protect the victim."
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