Michelle Schwab

Michelle Schwab wipes tears from her face as Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Ronald Adrine sentenced her to one year's probation, including parenting counseling, after she dropped her son into the cheetah exhibit at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in April.

(Cory Shaffer, Northeast Ohio Media Group)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Columbus-area mother who dropped her son into the cheetah exhibit at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in April was sentenced to probation and parental counseling Wednesday.

Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Ronald Adrine spared 37-year-old Michelle Schwab jail time after she pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated trespassing in connection with the April accident that left her 2-year-old son with a broken leg.

A crying Schwab told Adrine the incident was "the worst day of my life." Her attorneys argued that the international media attention her case garnered and the effect on her family and her career were punishment enough.

Adrine said he understood the stress Schwab's family has been through, but called her actions "scary" and "unconscionable."

Adrine sentenced Schwab to 180 days in jail, but suspended the jail time. Instead, she will serve probation for one year, take parenting classes and pay court costs.

Prosecutors originally charged the Delaware woman with child endangering, a first-degree misdemeanor. Cleveland Metroparks rangers accused her of dangling her son over the edge of the railing at the zoo's cheetah exhibit.

Schwab, who works at a suburban Columbus childcare facility, pleaded not guilty to child endangering. She argued in court that she sat the boy on the railing, and he tumbled into the pit when she turned her back.

Prosecutors agreed to amend the charge to aggravated trespassing, also first-degree misdemeanor. Schwab pleaded no contest to that charge.

Schwab faced a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.