WAUPACA, WI- Tiffany Powell has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for her involvement in events that led to her son’s murder in October 0f 2020. Powell must also have meetings to discuss the incident on the anniversary of her son’s death as part of the sentence handed down on Monday.

The murder stemmed from events that led to a dispute over stolen exotic pets.

Powell was convicted for first-degree recklessly endangering safety as well as being felon in possession of a firearm. The other suspect, 46-year-old William Zelenski allegedly shot and killed the woman’s son, 18-year-old Ryelee Manete-Powell, after accusing him of stealing multiple exotic animals the day before.

In court on Monday, Powell apologized, saying she will have to live the rest her life knowing she can’t bring him back..

“I wish I could go back and change the irrational decisions and choices that were made. Today, I sit here, accepting my accountability in the part of what happened to my son. I wish I could see him here and ask for forgiveness, but to ask for that would mean I would have to forgive myself,” she said.

Judge Clussman commented on several events.

“There’s all kinds of thought that takes place. At no point did you say: ‘Don’t hold that gun on my son.’; ‘Don’t give me this gun, I’m a convicted felon, I can’t hold on to a gun.’; ‘Don’t point that at my son.’ It seems to me you had a lot of thought. And maybe those thoughts were about Mr. Zelenski. Maybe you were thinking about yourself. Maybe you were thinking about those animals., or the weapons that were taken. You were thinking about a lot. The only thing you weren’t thinking about was Ryelee. Because if you have been thinking about Ryelee, you would have been screaming at Mr. Zelenski to take the gun away from your son, to put it down. So you do think. You just maybe weren’t thinking the way you should have been. You weren’t thinking about Ryelee,” the judge said.

Zelenski and Powell allegedly confronted Manente-Powell on a Waupaca street.

According to the criminal complaint, a video shows Zelenski handing a gun to Powell, who then pointed the gun at Manente-Powell. Eventually she gave the gun back to Zelenski.

After the shooting, Zelenski called 911, saying Manente-Powell attacked him, and then Zelenski shot him.

No trial date has been set for Zelenski. He returns to court Feb. 22 for a status conference.