AUSTIN (KXAN) — A former Austin nurse accused of repeatedly striking, choking and restricting the breathing of his patient — a non-verbal, bedridden, 9-year-old boy with cerebral palsy — has been sentenced to 3.5 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, after pleading guilty in a case that prosecutors said involved nearly two dozen incidents all captured on camera.
Mark Andrew Avery, now 61, was arrested in February 2024 and charged with the first-degree felony of injury to a child or disabled individual with intentional serious bodily injury, which carries a potential punishment range of no less than five years and up to 99 years in prison, according to the Texas Penal Code.
After more than two years of waiting for justice to be served for their child, the family learned a plea agreement was made in Avery’s case…