COEUR d'ALENE - Baby sitter Amanda L. Skogen loved 3-year-old Cohen Johnson, and he loved her back as much. Then on Oct. 4, Skogen pushed Johnson, he fell backward and hit his head, fracturing his skull.

Little Cohen died days later at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane after being removed from life support once his parents were told he was brain dead.

Skogen, 26, of Post Falls, found out Friday that she'll serve a prison sentence for her actions. She pleaded guilty in December to voluntary manslaughter.

First District Judge Fred Gibler ordered Skogen to serve 13 years, though she'll be eligible for parole after four. She is being given credit for the more than two months she served in jail after being arrested in October.

Gibler said Skogen had abused the trust she was given.

"Your actions have robbed them (Cohen's family) of watching him grow up," Gibler said.

Cohen's somber family members consoled each other quietly in the courtroom after the sentence was handed down. Skogen broke the silence as she began to wail after exiting the courtroom and entering an adjacent room. Her anguished, inconsolable crying remained audible for several minutes.

"I made a terrible, life-changing mistake," Skogen told the full courtroom before Gibler announced the prison sentence.

To Cohen's family, she began, "I'm so sorry ... I want so badly to take that pain away from you."

She said she wished she could re-live Oct. 4.

Prosecutors have said Skogen got angry and pushed Johnson after he wet himself and it got on her while the two were on a couch at her house, in the 500 block of North Elm Road in Post Falls.

She told Cohen's family that she's not asking to be forgiven.

She said, "I hope you can find peace one day."

Cohen's family said the pain has been "relentless."

Cohen's father, Jeremy Johnson, a cancer survivor and veteran of the Iraq war, told the court that nothing he has seen or endured could have ever prepared him for what he had to do Friday - read a statement describing the effect of losing his boy.

"I feel cheated and robbed," Johnson said. He lost a lifetime of memories with his best friend.

He has used one of his son's blankets to soak up his own tears, he said.

He expressed anger that Skogen didn't admit what she had done and how Cohen had actually been hurt until a day later. Prosecutors have said Skogen didn't take responsibility until confronted with her failed polygraph test.

Skogen first got the job as Cohen's babysitter because Matt Skogen, her husband, and Jeremy Johnson had been close friends for years.

Cohen's mother, Jennifer Gamble, said, "I loved every minute I got to share with him."

Gamble was also anguished by Amanda Skogen's unwillingness to initially tell the truth on Oct. 4.

"'I don't know what happened,'" Gamble recalled Skogen telling her at Kootenai Medical Center, where Cohen was initially being treated.

Gamble said, "I honestly don't know what would be a fair punishment."

She asked Gibler to "please think of (Cohen) and that little life that's gone."

About 20 people spoke about Skogen's character, describing her as motherly, loving, patient, reliable and honest. They said Skogen was the type of person who makes other people feel better about themselves.

Many of them spoke of trusting their own children to Skogen in the past, and their willingness to continue doing so. They said the damage she has caused the two families has "broken her heart."

Skogen was frustrated she couldn't reach out to Cohen's family and express her remorse as the case made its way through the court.

Steven Gray, 40, of Post Falls, one of Skogen's brothers, called her "the fun one" in the family. That was before Oct. 4, he said.

"She's lost a bounce in her step," Gray said. "She cries a lot."

The court struggled to reconcile the tender, big-hearted Skogen described by her large family, and the one that violently pushed Cohen after he wet himself and then didn't initially tell the truth about what happened.

Since being released from jail in December, Skogen's no longer the fun-loving, outgoing, and open person she was, members of her family said. She's more reserved, serious and not as free with her emotions.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh recommended Skogen receive a prison sentence of 15 years, with eight of those years fixed.

"It's a difficult case, no question," McHugh said.

The push had a "horrific result," he said. The push wasn't just an immediate reaction to what Cohen had done.

He said the push showed an unknown part of her character.

"It's in her, we know that," McHugh said. "There is a character flaw that caused her to strike out."

He said it's unlikely she would do again what she did to Cohen. Still, an innocent life was lost, he said.

Skogen's defense attorneys asked Gibler to suspend any sentence, saying probation would be enough. They also advised Gibler that Skogen has no previous criminal history, and said she had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity in this case.

The defense argued that what Skogen needs is counseling, and she could get that outside a prison.