Michelle Davis will not be going back to prison.

Visiting Judge Elma Bellini said in a sentencing hearing in Cayuga County court today that Davis, who had served a prison sentence for killing her autistic child in a house fire, could not be given additional time behind bars after the fact.

She did add a five-year post-release supervision term to Davis' sentence because Judge Peter Corning had failed to include that in his original six-year sentence issued in 2000.

The failure to add post-release supervision prompted Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmann to seek additional prison time for Davis because, he argued, the need for to correct the court's error from eight years ago opened the case back up.

Bellini disagreed, though she did say that she would have given Davis more prison time had she been the judge at the time of the original sentence. Bellini said the law, however, only allows her to address the post-release supervision issue.

Bellini gave Davis credit for serving 3.5 of the five years of the post-release supervision term.

Davis had pleaded to first-degree manslaughter and second-degree arson in the case, claiming she had been sexually assaulted by her son.

For more on this story, including reaction, read Saturday's edition of The Citizen.