An Alabama mother has entered a best interest guilty plea in the death of her young special needs son, who died malnourished and dehydrated five years ago.

Zedria Patrece Rankin, 38, was set to go to trial this week on charges of manslaughter and aggravated child abuse.

LeBrawn Rankin, an 8-year-old with cerebral palsy, died in 2018. Authorities said LeBrawn weighed only 23 pounds at the time of his death.

According to the indictment against her, Rankin failed to provide food and/or care for the child.

As part of the agreement, Rankin pleaded guilty to reduced charges of child abuse, second-degree domestic violence, first-degree criminal mischief. The latter involved an incident where authorities said she put clothes in a hot oven and left the residence, causing extensive damage.

The manslaughter charge was dismissed.

“A best interest plea is not an admission of guilty,’’ said her attorney Rolando Ranking, “but a plea that is entered into because it is the best available option.

A civil lawsuit filed against Alabama’s Department of Human Resources in 2021 said the agency received numerous complaints of prior abuse and neglect, yet failed to take appropriate action and instead allowed him to stay in a dangerous environment, eventually leading to his death.

LeBrawn attended the Augusta Evans School, a school for special needs students. Before his death, school officials and others reported their concerns to DHR on multiple occasions he was being abused and neglected.

“Some of the reports made by school officials to DHR included LeBrawn having suffered from severe dehydration, bedsores, poor hygiene and his diapers were not being changed for extended periods of time,” according to the lawsuit.

Civil suit attorney Tommy James in 2021 that LeBrawn’s teachers were crying out to DHR for help. They reported rapid weight loss, his diapers not being changed at home for days on end, reoccurring cases of ringworm, him coming to school with roaches on his wheelchair, roaches coming from inside his clothes, unexplained injuries, little to no hygiene at home and him coming to school with a terrible odor.

The civil case was settled with the state and Zedria Rankin is the only defendant remaining in the civil suit at this time.

“LeBrawn’s death was a tragedy that should never have happened and must now serve as a wake-up call to every individual and institution tasked with protecting our children. The system failed LeBrawn at every turn, and we owe it to him — and to every child in the system — to ensure this never happens again,’’ James said. “No child should suffer the way LeBrawn did. I am pleased we were able to achieve some semblance of justice for LeBrawn in the wrongful death case against the state.”

Zedria Rankin received a 10-year suspended sentence with three years on supervised probation.

“This has been a long, arduous and painful experience for Zedria and she is thankful to reach some form of closure,’’ her attorney said. “Her other option was to go forward with a trial and face 99 years.”

“As we hoped, the manslaughter charge was dismissed and the aggravated child abuse charge was reduced,’’ he said. “We are appreciative of the prosecution in this case for allowing the evidence and facts to be the controlling factors in negotiating a resolution.”

“Due to this loss, my client’s life will never be the same,” attorney Rankin said, “but at least she can now try to focus on continuing to heal.”