Wichita ? A 22-year-old southeast Kansas mother pleaded no contest to felony child abuse Thursday for dunking her infant son in burning hot water, Sedgwick County prosecutors said.

Ashley L. Brown, of Haysville, was originally charged with aggravated battery, a more serious crime, after police found her then 10-month-old son last summer with blistered and peeling skin and second- and third-degree burns on his head, neck and shoulders.

Brown has been out of jail – on bond – since September, and she could be sentenced to prison or probation on June 8.