DAYTONA BEACH — A South Daytona mother was sentenced on Friday to 45 years in prison for beating and punishing her 4-year-old son so severely that he died from the injuries.

Mikkia Shardae Lewis, 27, pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in the killing of Ke’Andre Coleman in 2013 in their apartment in South Daytona. Circuit Judge Matt Foxman adjudicated her guilty and sentenced on Friday.

According to a report, Lewis told police during an interview: "I guess I whooped him too much."

Lewis was originally charged with first-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse and would have faced a possible death sentence if convicted on those charges.

Lewis avoided the possible death sentence after reaching a plea deal in which she would face a minimum of 40 years and up to life in prison

Lewis’s boyfriend, Joe McCaskell, 38, was tried in May on charges of first-degree felony murder and had also faced a possible death sentence for the child’s death.

But the jury in effect took the death penalty off the table after they found McCaskell guilty of the lesser charge of third-degree felony murder. McCaskell was also found guilty of aggravated child abuse.

Prosecutors can seek the death penalty only if a person is convicted of first-degree murder.

[READ: Beatings led to boy's death.]

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[READ: Sequestered jury returns guilty verdict in child's death.]

[READ: Man gets 30 years in child's death.]

Foxman sentenced McCaskell to the maximum 30 years in prison on the aggravated child abuse and 15 years to run concurrent on the third-degree felony murder.

Ke’Andre had been excited to go on a field trip with Head Start to the zoo in Sanford on Friday, April 12, 2013. But he didn’t go on the field trip. Instead his mother, who was also supposed to go on the trip, kept him home, prosecutors said. McCaskell also remained home.

Prosecutors Heatha Trigones and Tammy Jaques said what followed was a weekend of abuse because the child didn’t know his colors and ABC's.

McCaskell called 9-1-1 about 1 a.m. on April 15, 2013, to report that the child was not breathing. A paramedic testified at McCaskell’s trial that the child was already in rigor mortis when first-responders arrived, meaning he had been dead for some time.

The boy had shoe imprints on his buttock and chest, according to testimony. One of his nipples appeared to have been gouged or severed.

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