Lisa Kinsey could be sentenced this morning to two decades in prison because her probation was revoked for slapping the hand of a child who bit her toddler.

The slap, which Kinsey's lawyer called "an instinctive response," violated a drug rehabilitation facility's rule forbidding residents from disciplining any children at the center other than their own. Because Kinsey broke a rule at the center, she violated the terms of probation. As a result, the 26-year-old mother of three faces prison time for previous charges related to a series of armed robberies.

Kinsey's attorney, Dayvid Figler, said Kinsey was at the WestCare Nevada Inc. facility with her infant and 2-year-old when an 18-month-old child bit her toddler on the arm. Kinsey reacted by slapping the child's hand in an attempt to back him away from her child. After discussing the incident with staff members and other parents at the facility, Kinsey thought it was resolved.

But the next day, Sept. 19, she was arrested by parole and probation officers, and she has remained jailed since then.

Last week, during a probation revocation hearing before District Judge Nancy Saitta, Kinsey sobbed and trembled. Prosecutors told Saitta that Kinsey not only struck the child, but also stole baby supplies from the facility's storage area.

Figler disagreed. He said Kinsey is guilty only of hoarding baby supplies that were provided to residents at no cost.

"Hoarding and a little slap on the hand," Figler said Wednesday of the allegations that landed Kinsey back in jail. "It's killing me"

The decision to revoke probation also appeared grueling to Saitta. It is one of her last cases at the District Court level before she is sworn in as a Supreme Court judge next month.

"This is so hard for me, but the fact of the matter is: Did she comply with (the terms of her) probation?" Saitta said during the hearing.

Saitta sentenced Kinsey last summer to probation for charges related to a string of armed robberies. Kinsey and co-defendants Beau Chandler James and Tyrone McKenzie pleaded guilty to a series of robberies. Prosecutors alleged that the trio robbed at least 19 stores during a two-month period ending in January. Kinsey served as the getaway driver and was not armed during the crimes, Figler said.

James was sentenced to a minimum of 12 years in prison, and McKenzie received a minimum of 18 years. Kinsey was given probation but was warned that if she violated its terms, she could face 11 to 35 years in prison for her role in the robberies.

Nelson said that when Kinsey goes before District Judge Jackie Glass today, prosecutors will be agreeable to a lesser sentence of five to 20 years in prison.

Saitta said that when she gave Kinsey probation, she had been sympathetic toward her because Kinsey was pregnant at the time. In addition to ordering Kinsey to complete the drug treatment program at WestCare, Saitta also told her to seek prenatal care.

Saitta, who raised her children and put herself through law school as a single mother, told Kinsey that she is "thoughtful, if not soft" when it comes to children.

"I have agonized about this as much as you have," Saitta told Kinsey at the revocation hearing.

Clark County Deputy District Attorney Bruce Nelson, who disagreed with Saitta placing Kinsey on probation in the first place, emphasized during last week's hearing that a condition of her probation was to follow the rules at WestCare.

"I don't think she (Kinsey) can keep getting breaks from people," Nelson said Wednesday.

Figler told Saitta that Kinsey was doing all of the other things required of her by WestCare and had not taken any drugs. Kinsey had sought prenatal treatment as Saitta had ordered and gave birth to a healthy baby on Aug. 9, Figler pointed out.

He urged the judge not to forget that although Kinsey is in the program, she still has mental health issues related to her drug use.

"It was a reaction by an unhealthy person," Figler said, referring to the slap. "Now they (the prosecutors) are saying, 'Too bad, so sad, we're just going to put her back into the sentencing phase.'"

Figler acknowledged that his client broke the rules at the drug treatment facility but questioned whether the conditions of probation set her up to fail. WestCare's rules state that in order to be accepted, newcomers must be "medically, physically and psychologically able to participate in the program." Figler said Kinsey was depressed and suicidal when she entered the program in July.

He questioned whether officials had tried to determine whether Kinsey was well enough to participate in the WestCare program. "If she would have been screened and found ineligible, would her probation have been revoked?"

"It's really disheartening that, because we know she has this illness, the only solution is prison time," Figler said.

Figler said revocation hearings and subsequent sentencing proceedings do not afford him the opportunity to call witnesses, such as employees of WestCare, to testify about the acts that led to Kinsey's probation being revoked.

"She was hoping for another chance" at probation, Figler said, but he said he now has little hope that Kinsey will avoid being sentenced to prison today.

"I can't say, 'Look, she didn't do anything wrong,' because I don't get a hearing or anything," he said.