Mom convicted of poisoning son gets break on murder sentence

Submitted by Mastodon on Wed, 2015-04-08 20:44

Article here. Excerpt:

'A woman convicted of fatally poisoning her 5-year-old son with salt in his hospital feeding tube got a break on her murder sentence Wednesday because she suffers from a mental illness she has refused to acknowledge, the judge said.

Lacey Spears, 27, of Scottsville, Kentucky, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for the 2014 death of Garnett-Paul Spears at a suburban New York hospital.
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Acting state Supreme Court Justice Robert Neary said Spears' crime was "unfathomable in its cruelty" and brought her son "five years of torment and pain." But he said he was not imposing the maximum 25 years to life because "one does not have to be a psychiatrist to realize you suffer from Munchausen by proxy."

He said he was offering "something you did not exhibit toward your son -- mercy."

Munchausen by proxy, now known clinically as factitious disorder imposed on another, is a disorder in which, in some cases, caretakers purposely but secretly harm children and then enjoy the attention and sympathy they receive.'

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... got off, a reduced sentence, etc. by pleading Munchausen? I doubt it's ever even been tried! If anyone knows of such a case, please post. Men exhibiting such behavior are thrown in the slammer and good, which is the right thing to do. But women? Suddenly, the std gets different.

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Submitted by Matt on Fri, 2015-04-10 02:53