Mom gets 20 years to life for poisoning son with salt

Lee Higgins | The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News

Show Caption Hide Caption Mom gets 20 years for killing son with salt Lacey Spears, a woman convicted of killing her 5-year-old son by poisoning him with salt got a break on her murder sentence because, a judge said, she suffers from a mental illness. (April 8)

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — A judge Wednesday sentenced Lacey Spears to 20 years to life in prison for poisoning her 5-year-old son to death.

On March 2, a jury had found Spears, 27, a Scottsville, Ky., resident who was living in the New York City area, guilty of second-degree murder after a 14-day trial.

"Her actions that day, they were inhuman. They despicable. They were evil," Doreen Lloyd, Westchester County's assistant district attorney, said in court. She described Spears' administration of salt into Garnett's feeding tube as the boy lay sick in the hospital, his inability to vomit it up because of previous scarring and his explosive bouts of diarrhea that went on for hours as his body tried to expel the poison.

Spears' condition, Münchausen by proxy syndrome, caused her to crave the attention that being a mother with a sick child gave her, said acting state Supreme Court Justice Robert Neary. While he believes that Spears was suffering from a mental illness, he did not think it affected her competency to stand trial or the necessity for her to receive more than the minimum, 15-year sentence.

"This was not a spontaneous or ill-conceived solitary act," Neary said. "It was a serious and orchestrated series of actions that really shock the conscience," actions that she denied as she tried to shift blame for the death of her son to doctors and the reason for her prosecution as a conspiracy of law enforcement officials.

But he also said he hoped she would come to terms with her condition as she served her time and that public awareness and public reporting of such cases increase because of her case.

After Spears' conviction last month, William Aronwald, a criminal defense lawyer in White Plains, N.Y., said it would be difficult for her lawyers to win any mercy at her sentencing.

"There's not a sympathy factor here," Aronwald said. "The judge heard all the evidence. What reason would there be (to show mercy) given that the jury found she killed her child?"

Second-degree murder carries a maximum penalty of 25 years to life in prison.

Spears had moved to Chestnut Ridge, N.Y., about 35 miles northwest of New York City, 14 months before Garnett's death on Jan. 23, 2014, living on the secluded Fellowship Community's grounds where volunteers live with and care for senior citizens in need.

Defense lawyer David Sachs said at the sentencing that Spears continues to maintain her innocence.

All of Garnett's good qualities that prosecutors praised were the result of Spears' successful parenting, Sachs said, noting that she had moved to New York from Florida seeking a better life for her son.

Sachs had provided numerous letters in support of Spears "by the people who knew Garnett and Lacey best," including Garnett's maternal grandparents, aunt, and other relatives. Another letter came from the Westchester County Jail chaplain.

Each asked the judge for leniency at sentencing, and Sachs said Spears' mother died in December.

While the probe into Garnett's death focused on Münchausen by proxy, prosecutors ultimately did not introduce that theory at trial, suggesting they were convinced that the evidence they had was strong enough for a conviction.

Prosecutors contended Spears had shown a pattern of sickening her son to get attention for herself, calling what happened "nothing short of torture." She had chronicled Garnett's many illnesses — including his final one — on Facebook and a personal blog.

Lacy Spears timeline

• November 2012: Lacey and Garnett Spears move to The Fellowship Community in Chestnut Ridge, N.Y.

• Jan. 17, 2014: Garnett admitted to Nyack Hospital in Valhalla, N.Y.

• Jan. 19, 2014: Garnett airlifted to Westchester and admitted to Maria Fareri Children's Hospital's intensive care unit.

• Jan. 22, 2014: Garnett declared brain dead. Spears asks a friend to remove a salt-laden feeding bag from her home.

• Jan. 23, 2014: Garnett dies.

• April 4, 2014: Westchester County's medical examiner rules the boy's death a homicide.

• June 17, 2014: A county grand jury indicts Spears on second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter.

• Feb. 3, 2015: Jury selection begins in Spears' murder trial.

• March 2, 2015: Jurors reach a verdict of second-degree murder.

• April 8, 2015: Judge sentences Spears to 20 years to life in prison.