Julie Myhre-Schnell, the ex-wife of Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell, was sentenced Friday to three years in prison after pleading guilty to trying to kill their vulnerable adult son.

Myhre-Schnell, 65, pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted murder in July in connection with her son's poisoning on Dec. 3, 2023.

According to court documents, Myhre-Schnell texted family members after she went to her son's group home in Vadnais Heights, Minnesota, and spiked her son's feeding bag with crushed-up Lorazepam pills, an anxiety medication, "hoping he would go to sleep forever."

Her son survived the poisoning but was hospitalized after exhibiting an "altered mental status, decreased level of responsiveness, and hypotension," court documents state.

Police said Myhre-Schnell later confessed to the crime. Investigators had also determined she refilled her Lorazepam prescription two days before the poisoning, and they compiled screenshots of text messages she sent admitting the crime to others.

The criminal complaint also notes Myhre-Schnell admitted the crime to her son about eight months after the poisoning. He later told police the confession was "heavy" and "a lot to process."

In July, Commissioner Schnell released a memo stating he's the "sole legal guardian" of their son, and he first reported the crime to police after he was notified by his former sister-in-law.

In the same memo, the commissioner said he would "abstain from involvement in any Department of Corrections decision making or operational communications related to [his ex-wife] should case settlement result in a sentence committing her to the commission of corrections."

Court documents also note the commissioner separated from Myhre-Schnell in May 2023, and officially divorced her just weeks before she poisoned their son.

Myhre-Schnell will serve her sentence at the Shakopee women's prison. She was given 22 days credit for time served.

NOTE: The original airdate of the video attached to this article is Aug. 22, 2024.