Mom gets 1 month in jail for assaulting toddler on plane

HONOLULU (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a Hawaii mother to a month in jail and three months under home confinement for assaulting her 15-month-old daughter on a flight from Alaska.

A jury convicted her of assault after last year's trial where prosecutors alleged she cursed at her daughter, smacked her in the head, hit her in the face with a stuffed doll and yanked out tufts of her hair during the May 2015 Alaska Airlines flight.

Defense attorneys argued the allegations were fabricated by judgmental passengers who didn't like how Watanabe looked and dressed her child.

[...] since her arrest, she has made improvements to her life — from anger management to mental health and drug treatment, he said.

Since her arrest, "you've done much better" in a clean and sober house, U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Chang told Watanabe.