Mother sentenced to 20 years to life for fatal salt-poisoning of 5-year-old son

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — 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, Ky., was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for the 2014 death of her son, Garnett-Paul Spears, at a suburban New York hospital.

Prosecutors said the mother force-fed high concentrations of sodium through the boy's stomach tube because she craved the attention his illness brought to her, especially through her heavy posting on social media.



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.

The judge said he hoped to shine a spotlight on the illness and encourage public reporting of it.

Prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence, saying Spears sickened her son because she had a bizarre need for attention.

Spears' lawyer requested the minimum 15 years to life. He called her a hardworking single mother who gave her son unconditional love.