WHITE PLAINS, New York — Lacey Spears, 27, has been sentenced to 25-year to life.
Not only is Spears accused of purposely poisoning the boy, but prosecutors say she also documented his health decline on social media.
On Twitter, Spears presented herself as a devoted mother and mommy blogger. However, in reality, “this mother was intentionally feeding her child salt at toxic levels,” prosecutor Doreen Lloyd said at her arraignment, according to The Associated Press.
This mother was intentionally feeding her child salt at toxic levels,” prosecutor Doreen Lloyd said at Spears’ arraignment. The boy’s sodium levels rose to a dangerous point with no medical explanation, prosecutors said, leading to a swollen brain, seizures and death.
They believe his single mother, who was sharing his hospital room at Westchester Medical Center, administered salt through a feeding tube into Garnett’s stomach.
All the while, she was keeping followers up to date with 28 online postings in the last 11 days of his life, noting his death with, “Garnett the great journeyed onward today at 10:20 a.m.”
She had tens of thousands of entries over Garnett’s lifetime, many about his doctor and hospital visits. “My Sweet Angel Is In The Hospital For The 23rd Time,” Spears tweeted on Nov. 9, 2009, adding a sad-faced emoticon. “Please Pray He Gets To Come Home Soon.”
It is likely the messages Spears shared on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace will be introduced as evidence during the trial.
State Supreme Court Justice Robert Neary also ruled prosecutors can use evidence that Spears researched the dangers of sodium in children and the properties of iodized salt on her iPhone.
Spears, originally from Decatur, Alabama, was living in Chestnut Ridge, New York, during the time of her son’s death. She then moved to Kentucky before she was arrested in June.
