Mother's guilty plea to killing 4-year-old
Source: Agencies |
April 15, 2010, Thursday
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AN American mother pleaded guilty on Tuesday to killing her four-year-old son and trying to kill her seven-year-old daughter after the children plunged off a bridge into a frigid Oregon river last year.
Under terms of the plea bargain, Amanda Stott-Smith, 32, will avoid the possibility of the death penalty and spend at least 35 years in prison.
Stott-Smith gave one-word answers to questions from the judge and showed little emotion during the hearing.
Prosecutor John Casalino had approved of the plea arrangement. Formal sentencing is scheduled for April 22. Stott-Smith is expected to be sentenced to life in prison for aggravated murder and a minimum of 10 years for attempted aggravated murder.
She must serve at least 30 years of the life sentence and, after that, at least five more years on the attempted murder count, according to the agreement. After that, she can apply for release.
The children fell 23 meters from the Sellwood Bridge into the near-freezing Willamette River shortly after midnight on May 23.
A couple in a houseboat heard cries and fetched the two children in a boat, but the boy was dead. The children had already spent more than half an hour in the river.
Investigators have not said in detail what they believe happened on the bridge, and the proceedings on Tuesday shed no light on that question.
Stott-Smith and Jason Smith separated in 2008, and in April 2009 Jason Smith was granted custody of the children. On the night the boy died, Stott-Smith had them as part of her visitation rights.
Court documents showed she made a distraught phone call to him shortly before the children went into the water, saying, "You've taken my joy away," and "Why have you done this to me?"
The girl has recovered and lives with her father.
Under terms of the plea bargain, Amanda Stott-Smith, 32, will avoid the possibility of the death penalty and spend at least 35 years in prison.
Stott-Smith gave one-word answers to questions from the judge and showed little emotion during the hearing.
Prosecutor John Casalino had approved of the plea arrangement. Formal sentencing is scheduled for April 22. Stott-Smith is expected to be sentenced to life in prison for aggravated murder and a minimum of 10 years for attempted aggravated murder.
She must serve at least 30 years of the life sentence and, after that, at least five more years on the attempted murder count, according to the agreement. After that, she can apply for release.
The children fell 23 meters from the Sellwood Bridge into the near-freezing Willamette River shortly after midnight on May 23.
A couple in a houseboat heard cries and fetched the two children in a boat, but the boy was dead. The children had already spent more than half an hour in the river.
Investigators have not said in detail what they believe happened on the bridge, and the proceedings on Tuesday shed no light on that question.
Stott-Smith and Jason Smith separated in 2008, and in April 2009 Jason Smith was granted custody of the children. On the night the boy died, Stott-Smith had them as part of her visitation rights.
Court documents showed she made a distraught phone call to him shortly before the children went into the water, saying, "You've taken my joy away," and "Why have you done this to me?"
The girl has recovered and lives with her father.
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