Mommy Blogger Lacey Spears Gets Max Sentence, 25 Years To Life For Poisoning Her 5-Year-Old: Justice?
Lacey Spears, the notorious “Mommy blogger” convicted of killing her 5-year-old son through a steady overdose of salt, has received the maximum sentence.
According to a report from CBS New York, the minimum sentence for second-degree murder — the crime Spears was convicted of — would have been 15 years to life, but prosecutors were able to get a judgment of 25 years to life based on the cruel and sadistic nature of the torture.
By Spears’ own accounts, Garnett Spears was in the hospital more than 20 times throughout his short life. When he died on January 23, 2014, it was discovered that the boy had suffered from salt poisoning, which, prosecutors successfully argued, caused brain swelling, seizures, and death.
#BREAKING: Lacey Spears, convicted of killing her 5-yr-old son by poisoning him with salt, was sentenced to 20 years. http://t.co/BJKkTC1gAk
— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) April 8, 2015
Prosecutors said that Lacey Spears was able to OD her son on salt through a gastrointestinal feeding tube that was left over from birth, so even during hospital stays, she managed to continue the torture because she wanted the social media attention.
During the trial, prosecutors painted her to be a “calculated child killer.”
“The motive is bizarre, the motive is scary, but it exists,” said a prosecutor.
The Inquisitr previously reported that this could be an outcome for the “Mommy blogger,” but at that point, it wasn’t clear how severe the final judgment would be.
Prosecutors had presented disturbing information during the trial, which lasted one month. When Garnett was dying, the DA said that Spears was busy trying to cover up the crime — that she made a call to a friend to try to devise a plan to hide the child’s feeding bags, which were filled with salt. These bags were used as evidence against Spears in court.
“After she poisoned him and this little boy lay dying in the hospital … what does she do? She’s not by his side. She’s not comforting her son … this mother, this innocent mother, is on the phone, calling her friend to cover up the crime,” Assistant District Attorney Doreen Lloyd said.
In a statement following the sentencing, Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore had this to say.
“Throughout his short life, Garnett Spears was forced to suffer through repeated hospitalizations, unneeded surgical procedures and ultimately poisoning with salt, all at the hands of the one person who should have been his ultimate protector: his mother…. Using the child’s ‘illnesses’ to self aggrandize herself, Lacey Spears’ actions directly lead to her son’s tortured death.”
Defense attorneys said that Spears would appeal.
What do you think about Lacey Spears’ sentence of 25 years to life? Is prison the right place for her, or would psychological help be the better call? Sound off in the comments section.
