Mom who killed, froze kids gets life in prison

A judge told Mitchelle Blair one of her primary responsibilities as a mother was to protect her kids and she "failed in the worst possible way."

"You imposed the death penalty on your own children," Wayne County Circuit Judge Dana Hathaway told the Detroit mother today.

Then she sentenced Blair to mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole for the deaths of two of her children, Stephen Berry, 9, and Stoni Blair, 13.

Last month, Blair, 36, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the death of her daughter and felony murder in the death of her son. Before their deaths, Blair admitted she beat and burned them.

"They lived in terrible fear of you," Hathaway said. "And I find that just so sad in this case."

A crew carrying out an eviction at the family's home in the Martin Luther King Apartments discovered the children's bodies in a deep freezer in March.

Blair, a mother of four, has repeatedly said she believes Stephen and Stoni abused another one of her children, but Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Carin Goldfarb told the court today that there is no evidence of that.

"That's a lie," Blair said, interrupting. The outburst prompted the judge to warn her if she didn't behave she would be escorted out of the courtroom.

Blair's attorney, Wyatt Harris, said Blair has remained consistent about the alleged abuse over the past several months. He said he doesn't justify Blair's actions, but said she had been abused as a child, lacked support and didn't cope with the situation in a way most people would have.

She is accepting responsibility for her actions, Harris said.

Blair, who wore red jail garb and had her wrists handcuffed in front of her body, addressed the court for six minutes. She directed many of her words to the family of Alexander Dorsey, the father of Stoni and her oldest child.

He was in court during sentencing and provided a statement to the judge, but the contents of it were not made public.

"I haven't lied about anything," Blair said. "As horrendous as everybody think I am, that's fine."

During a previous court hearing, Blair detailed the abuse she inflicted on Stoni and Stephen, called them "demons" and said she has no remorse for their deaths.

She said she starved Stoni, put a bag over her head until she lost consciousness, threw scalding water on her and hit her on the head "over and over."

She meant to kill her daughter, didn't intentionally kill her son, but knows her actions caused his death, she has said.

Blair admitted she kicked Stephen, punched him, made him drink Windex, burned him with hot water in his genital area, lifted him with a belt around his neck and put a bag over his head causing him to lose consciousness.

Authorities said Stephen was killed in 2012 and Stoni was killed in 2013.

Blair's two other children, an 8-year-old boy and 17-year-old girl, are in the care of a relative. Blair was also accused of severely abusing them.

According to a court document, the 17-year-old was punched in the face, burned on the back with a clothing iron and repeatedly hit with a 2x4. The youngest had more than 25 scars and injuries—both old and new—on his back, the document said.

"Thankfully that house of horrors that you created is no longer in existence," Hathaway told Blair. "I do pray that your remaining children will recover from what they saw and endured in that household."

Blair had faced other counts including first-degree child abuse and torture. They were dismissed today after she was ordered to spend the rest of her life behind bars.

"This sentence today brings to a close the tragic and shocking set of circumstances surrounding the very short lives of Stoni Blair and Stephen Berry," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement. "There were no winners - only losers. I truly hope these children can finally rest in peace."

In a separate case, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is seeking to terminate Blair's parental rights as well as the parental rights to the fathers of the living children, saying they failed to protect them. The fathers — Steven Berry and Dorsey — are fighting to keep their parental rights and maintain they didn't know about the abuse.

A final decision in that case could come later this month.

Contact Elisha Anderson: eanderson@freepress.com or 313-222-5144