48 Hours - A Mother Accused - Encore

Episode Date: September 18, 2016

A mother convicted of murder by poisoning her son with salt claims it was the hospital's mistake.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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I lost my five-year-old son. He's not here today. I loved every part of who he was. And I'm very saddened that I'll never get to watch him grow up. How did your son die? His death certificate says homicide. Lacey Spears is not an innocent mother grieving the death of her son. She is no longer the mother of Garnet Spears because she murdered him.

You will not hear a single witness that saw Lacey Spears do anything. because she murdered him. You will not hear a single witness that saw Lacey Spears do anything, give anything, or feed anything to her son that would have caused his death. You don't expect to lose your child. Lacey Spears is a calculating child killer. You don't expect to take them to the hospital and never bring them home. Her research planned and executed the intentional poisoning of her son, Garnet Spears, with salt.

I didn't hurt him. I didn't kill my son. You didn't poison him. I didn't kill my son. You didn't poison your son with salt. No, I did not. I never poisoned him with salt. Then why is his sodium level so high? You would have to ask the hospital that. I spent 26 years with the Decatur Police Department. Ten of those years were exclusively in the investigation of child abuse. police department. Ten of those years were exclusively in the investigation of child abuse.

I never saw a case that was so overtly Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Munchausen by proxy is faking illness in someone else and also inducing illness. Usually a mother on behalf of a child, it's mostly to seek attention. I do not have Munchausen by proxy. I didn't harm him in any way. I seeked help for him diligently because I was his advocate. We began to pull medical records. We were able to identify approximately 20 medical facilities from the time Garnet was born in 2008 to the time they left the area in 2010. There was indication that she was visiting different doctor's offices without sharing

information from one doctor to the other. He just would not take a bottle of baby food and not gaining weight. And nobody could explain to me what was going on. This case had a lot of warning signs. The story is told in the records. What we're looking for is what is this mother telling us and does that fit with the picture that we see medically. For example, elevated salt that's not medically explained.

I am 100% convinced that Lacey Spears is directly responsible for the death of Garnet Spears. My son is not here today because someone in that hospital screwed up and neglected to take care of him. I'm Troy Roberts. Tonight on 48 Hours, a mother accused.

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Lacey Spears' hometown was the place she first showed an interest in children, working as a babysitter and later at daycare. I love children. They're our future. They should be cared for and loved. When I first met Lacey, she was very shy, but was real good with kids. Shauna Lynch met Lacey about eight years ago at the daycare center where Lacey took care of her son.

She volunteered to take my kids if I needed to go to work and didn't want to take them to the daycare. She loved my kids and my kids adored her. But after a few years, Shawna thought Lacey was getting overly involved in her family's life. So Shawna stopped spending as much time with her. She was real clingy. It seemed like she never wanted to be by herself. She always had to have a kid there, somebody's kids. It seemed like she never wanted to be by herself. She always had to have a kid there, somebody's kids. Lacey became pregnant with Garnett in 2008 when she was 20.

His father, Chris Hill, was the neighbor whom Lacey briefly dated. Garnett's father was a friend of mine. We lived in the very same apartment complex. Lacey says Hill did not want to be part of Garnett's life, so she set out raising her son on her own. Something made especially difficult because Garnett had health issues, which she often posted about. He was in and out of the hospital for the first nine weeks of his life and afterwards. And what was he suffering from? What were his issues? Garnet had severe ear infections and the biggest problem we had was we couldn't get him to eat and he would projectile vomit so he was losing weight. Doctors diagnosed Garnet with failure to thrive but could not figure out why he couldn't hold food down.

So at nine weeks old, he had stomach surgery to prevent him from throwing up. They sent him home, and he didn't eat. He wouldn't take a bottle, nothing. And about a week later, he was admitted into the hospital for severe dehydration. admitted into the hospital for severe dehydration. Garnett's condition worsened and he was airlifted from Decatur General Hospital to Birmingham Children's Hospital. His sodium level was found to be dangerously high, 166. The normal range is 140 for infants. High levels of sodium can be deadly, potentially causing seizures, swelling in the brain. I wanted to know what was wrong. Doctors were able to bring his level down, but never understood how it had gotten so high. And once again, Lacey brought Garnett home from a hospital.

He spent more time in the hospital than he spent at home. I wanted my son to be healthy. So Lacey took Garnet to more doctors, telling them she still couldn't get him to eat. At nine months old, Garnet had surgery again, this time to insert a feeding tube, commonly referred to as a G-tube, where nutrients go directly into an opening in the abdomen, either through a hanging bag or bottle or through a syringe. What did doctors say to you about his prognosis? You know, they were hopeful that within time, he wouldn't have so much problems eating. However, Lacey says, Garnet continued to be plagued by feeding issues. In 2010, they moved from Alabama to Florida to be near Lacey's grandmother. While there, Lacey babysat, cleaned houses, and received

some public assistance. She would occasionally come back to Alabama to visit. The day that they came to visit, Garnet was just a bouncing little two-year-old kid. Running around, I never thought that he was sick or anything. And then we had lunch and he ate just like a normal two-year-old would do, pizza and drinks. Garnet would eat and then he would just stop eating. He would say, my stomach hurts. I don't want to eat. He would go for an extended period of time where he just simply would not take anything by mouth. And so we used his G-tube as he got older for supplemental feeds, only when he needed to be nourished. Tell me how challenging that was,

taking care of a child with so many medical issues. That's all I knew. It was just something that I was given, and I embraced it. created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge or why nearly every house in america has at least one game of monopoly introducing the best idea yet a brand new podcast from wondery and t-boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bolder risk takers who brought them to life like did you know that super mario the best selling video game character of all time only only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala? From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans,

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Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Garner was becoming of age where he was going to go to school. And then I decided that I was going to take him from Florida to New York so that he could have the best education that I felt was possible for him. Lacey learned from her friend about an alternative community, an hour outside of New York City called The Fellowship. Its mission is to care for its elderly residents. Workers live on the premises, contributing to all aspects of the community,

receiving free room and board and schooling for children. Lacey thought it would be the ideal atmosphere to raise Garnet, then three years old. I took care of elderly people. Did you like it? I embraced it. I loved it. What about your son? He loved it. He loved the freedom, that he could run around the community and there was always a watchful eye on him. He just knew how just to reach every person to sort of make them smile.

And he reached you? Yes. Garnet and I were very good friends, actually. knew how just to reach every person to sort of make them smile. And he reached you. Yes. Garnet and I were very good friends, actually. Valerie Ploche, a fellowship member, met Lacey and Garnet when they moved there in 2012 and immediately saw something special in Garnet. He just went around opening everyone's hearts. There was so much love there. While Lacey told people at the fellowship about Garnett's medical problems, the boy Valerie knew seemed active and healthy.

As far as I could tell, he was hungry often, and I would have nuts or fruit on the counter, and he would eat. Did she seem like a good mother to you? I thought she seemed like a good mother, yep. They had a very loving relationship, and she cared about him and talked about him all the time. Lacey says Garnet still could not consistently eat food by mouth as he continued to suffer from stomach aches.

So she sought help from local doctors. What were your impressions of Garnett? Did he seem like a healthy boy? Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely healthy boy. The most unusual in Garnett Spears' case was his feeding tube was left in place for such a long time. He was four when he came to my office.

Dr. Ivan Derenkov, a pediatric gastroenterologist, saw Garnett for five visits over a period of several months in 2013, treating him for stomach ailments and to check on his G-tube. Did you have a discussion with Lacey during your first visit with her about removing the G-tube from Garnet. Yes. I always say to all my patients that we really need to be absolutely sure that child cannot eat and needs some or all of the calories be provided by the G-tube. To rule out serious diseases, Dr. Durenkov suggested a number of complicated tests, which Lacey readily agreed to, and which all came back negative. But when he recommended simple nutritional evaluations to see if the feeding tube was necessary, Lacey's reaction, he says, was different.

She would not say yes, she would not say no, but she wouldn't do it. We had begun to talk about the removal of the G-tube, but neither one of us, me as his mother or him as his physician, were comfortable with removing the G-tube. It was a goal for the future. I was telling her, I don't like this tube being there if we don't need it. That was my mantra, I would say, every time we would meet. Dr. Durenkov grew frustrated. He says he also asked Lacey for Garnett's previous medical

records, which he never received. Durenkov stopped seeing Garnett because he moved to a practice in another state, but unsettling suspicions stayed with him. There were red flags along this case all through the visits that I had with this child. I thought about them. I tried to work my way through them. Mitch Kausen, by proxy, was on my mind from day one. Suspicious, but not certain. And so Derenkov did not share his concerns with authorities. Physicians feel they need to know for sure,

and they don't. If they have reasonable suspicion, get consultation. But if you suspect, report. Dr. Mary Sanders, a clinical psychologist and associate professor at Stanford University, has spent years evaluating Munchausen by proxy cases where illnesses might be faked or created in a child. She and other Munchausen experts believe the syndrome is child abuse and as such needs to be reported. A surgically implanted feeding tube is an avenue of chaos. Anything can go in that tube. You've seen that in other cases? We have seen that

in several cases, yes. Sanders never met Lacey Spears, but has reviewed information about her. She believes the condition explains much of Lacey's behavior. The red flags in this case, and for me in any case of medical child abuse, is when the story does not fit what you see. So when a mother presents symptoms that when you see the child don't make sense, lab levels that don't make sense, a mother that says my child will not feed, we see evidence that the child will feed. And what are the motives behind this? The motives are varied, but we see evidence that the child will feed. And what are the motives behind this? The motives are varied, but we can assume that the motives are to gain attention, to have drama

in one's life, excitement. Another potential red flag for Sanders, all those hosts on social media. Certainly the internet opens up a wide audience, you know, not only friends and families, but strangers. Social media is there to send support. I did it to inform my family and my friends. I didn't do anything for sympathy, but I just did it to share my life, Garnet's life. Do you suffer from Munchausen by proxy?

I do not have Munchausen by proxy. I was evaluated by a psychiatrist, and he determined that I do not have Munchausen by proxy. That evaluation was done after Garnet's death. That evaluation was done after Garnett's death. And, says Lacey, it did not find that she suffered from any mental illness. Lacey did not share the report with 48 Hours. The psychological evaluation is not where we identify the illness. What we're looking for is inconsistencies in what's being reported and what is seen clinically.

Elevated sodium was a factor in this case. Is that common? It's not uncommon as a form of munchausen by proxy child abuse. Life at the Fellowship was going well for Lacey and for Garnett, who after living there for a year and a half was thriving. He was a little social butterfly and he loved it. Lacey said Garnett still required occasional supplemental feedings through his G-tube, which she administered at home, but was otherwise active and seemingly healthy.

That changed in January of 2014, shortly after Garnett turned five, when she says he came down with a fever, stomachache, and headache. Took him to the pediatrician, who said, you know, I can't figure out anything that's going on with him, but we're going to watch him. Garnett's temperature went down and he seemed better. But then several days later, his condition worsened. And I remember me screaming in pain and holding his head. Garnett was admitted to New York's Nyack Hospital with seizure-like symptoms. A video EEG was set up using a special cap on his head,

wired to a machine that monitors brain activity. Meanwhile, with Lacey's consent, a camera recorded Garnet in the room. Lacey remained by her son's side, caring for him, taking him to the bathroom, and everything seemed normal. His condition improved greatly. Friday night, Saturday, he was fine. But almost two days after being admitted, he took a turn for the worse with stomach issues and pain.

And he starts screaming that his head hurts, and he's trying to throw up, and they call code blue because he's not breathing. Tests showed Garnett's sodium level, which was a normal 138 when he was admitted, was now a dangerous 182, which could lead to death. Nyack Hospital decided Garnett's best chance for recovery was to transfer him to a more specialized children's hospital at Westchester Medical Center, where over the phone, a doctor there was filled in on Garnett's condition.

So do you have 182? 182? 182. No, then you need to repeat it. Okay? That's impossible. No, then you need to repeat it. Okay? That's impossible. Two and a half hours later, Garnett was airlifted to Westchester's Maria Ferreri Children's Hospital.

Doctors quickly worked to treat him, and through IVs, they were able, within a day, to bring his sodium level down. The doctor came in to evaluate Garnet and said that he was improving. That's what every mother wants to hear. But the recovery lasted less than 24 hours. The damage to Garnet's body had already been done. The high sodium levels caused his brain to swell, and two days after being admitted to Children's Hospital, Garnet is brain dead on life support. I don't know what's happened. This is my five-year-old son on life support.

I got the first call that there was a sick child in the Maria Farrar Children's Hospital and they wanted to start an investigation. Doctors could not figure out how Garnett's sodium level had gotten so high unless someone had given him salt, and the person doctors suspected was Lacey. The thought of this being a death by a loving mother

was difficult to swallow, but we didn't have a whole lot of time to dwell on that. Okay, so this is dated. An investigation involving Westchester County Detective Dan Carfian, Ramapo Detectives Kirk Budnick and Greg Dunn was immediately underway. Carfian focused on the hospital. Budnick and Dunn obtained a search warrant for Lacey's home. This is the front of the house here. Lacey's apartment was around the back. And it just seemed strange that when we walked in, there were four or five medicines on a kitchenette table behind a can of salt.

That's the first overall shot that I took upon entering. What first caught my eye is when I was in the middle of the living room section was a IV-type pole with substance hanging from it, which was kind of unusual. And I looked at it, I said, you know, she told me she was breastfeeding, and it looks like breast milk in the bags. So we decided not to take it. They also noticed a similar-looking bag in the garbage and decided to leave that as well. But they did take more than 150 other items, ranging from food, salt containers, holistic medicines, vitamins, syringes and tubes. The following day, the detectives interviewed a cooperative Lacey at the hospital. Were you surprised when police showed up?

Absolutely. I'm surprised that my son is brain dead. I'm surprised that all these events have transpired because one minute he's fine and the next minute he's not. Lacey seemed very interested in what was going on in the investigation. If your child is sick and dying or perhaps brain dead, you'd want to be by the child's side. Lacey was the opposite. She wanted to spend more time with us, you'd want to be by the child's side. Lacey was the opposite. She wanted to spend more time with us, bringing us people to interview.

It was a little bit odd. You're trying to deal with your son and what has happened and transpired, and then you're thrown into the mix of police officers, investigators. I was denied time with my son the last hours, days of his life because I was doing everything the police asked of me so that they and myself could figure out what happened to my son. You know, I heard that Garnet was brain dead and it was just so completely devastating.

And it was just so completely devastating. Valerie, the neighbor at the fellowship, wanted to help Lacey through this unimaginable time and had been in contact with her the day after Garnet was pronounced brain dead. She asked me to go to her apartment and take the feeding bag off the stand and dispose of it. Did you ask why? No, I didn't ask why. I was in a very emotional state and just any request, she could have asked me to do anything and I would have done it because I was in such sympathy over the situation that she was losing her child.

Valerie headed to Lacey's apartment. A neighbor told her the police had been there. She now had second thoughts about disposing of the bag, so she brought it home. First I put it in a garbage bag, and then I put it in the closet. Valerie told the leaders of the fellowship what had transpired. They came and got it from me a little bit later. And they, in turn, called the police. The detectives recovered that bag and returned to Lacey's apartment, taking the feeding bag in the garbage that they had left nearly two days earlier.

Both bags were sent out for testing. I didn't ask Valerie to go to my apartment and remove anything. that they had left nearly two days earlier. Both bags were sent out for testing. I didn't ask Valerie to go to my apartment and remove anything. I asked her to go and see in which state my apartment was in and what the police had been there doing. Two feeding bags were recovered? Yes. And what did investigators find? Sodium.

Why were high levels of sodium found in the feeding bags in your home? You would have to ask the person that put it in there because I didn't put sodium in the bag. And the proof is that when I took him to the hospital that night, had there been high levels of sodium in that feeding bag that I had fed my son out of immediately before he went to the hospital, he would have went with high levels of sodium, and he didn't. So it magically appears? It was exchanged between a multitude of hands

before the police got it 48 hours after the bag had been taken from my home. So someone is setting you up. I didn't say that someone was setting me up. I'm saying that I didn't place it in the bag. Losing Garnet is the greatest loss I will ever suffer in my life. Two days after Garnet's brain swelled from the effects of high sodium, he was taken off life support and officially declared dead. I miss just being able to pick him up and hug him and kiss him and tell him I love him. I miss everything about him, everything. Police were drilling down on their investigation.

Lab results on those feeding bags from Lacey Spears' apartment revealed massive amounts of sodium. Each bag had this much, the equivalent of at least 69 small salt bags. The amounts of sodium that were in those bags were lethal. I never poisoned him with salt. Ten weeks after Garnett's death, the coroner ruled it a homicide, and there seemed to be only one suspect, Lacey Spears.

As law enforcement looked into Lacey's past, they contacted Johnny Coker, an investigator with the DA's office in Decatur, Alabama, Lacey's hometown. I realized that I had actually known Lacey when she was a child. I remember seeing her at church on a regular basis. Coker came across a disturbing discrepancy in Lacey's background. She had lied about the identity of Garnett's father. Who was his biological father? Garnett's biological father was Chris Hill. But that's not what Lacey was telling people.

Lacey liked to tell the story that Garnett's father was a local deputy in the Morgan County Sheriff's Department. His name was Blake, and that Blake was a hero, that he had died in a car crash. On social media, there was post after post recalling traveling to Blake's memorial service as well as holidays missed. I'm alive and well. This is Blake Robinson, currently a sergeant with the Morgan County, Alabama,

Sheriff's Office. About a decade ago, Lacey and I met approximately three times. Not in my wildest dreams would I ever have thought that my name would have been drawn out of this big hat as this make-believe father. Didn't you tell people that the biological father was Blake? I did. I decided with my family that if anybody asked, we would say his name was Blake and that he was a police officer and he died in a car accident. And I did it so that when people asked, it would shut the conversation down. I didn't want Garnett to have the stigmatism that his father was a deadbeat.

But Chris Hill, Garnett's biological father, says that's completely false. Hill declined an on-camera interview, but says he would have welcomed being part of Garnett's life. But Lacey shut him out. And he told us he's active in another son's life. He should be in with the Alabama medical records. In addition to looking into Lacey's personal life, investigators in New York and Alabama

were working to piece together Garnett's medical history. They obtained subpoenas for his health records and started interviewing doctors. In a period of two years, Ms. Spears sought medical attention for her son in about 20 different doctor's offices. Some of them were referrals from one doctor to another. Sometimes when maybe a doctor's getting a little too close to figuring out what's going on, we might see a move to another doctor. And in the investigation, Coker found doctors who were suspicious about Lacey. Five weeks into his life, one of the doctors documented in the medical records

that it was a possible Munchausen by proxy. But it's not clear if that suspicion got acted upon or other irregularities found during the investigation, like a report that noted Lacey said she wanted to harm the child, or one that Garnett suffered bleeding from the eyes and ears with no known medical explanation. suffered bleeding from the eyes and ears with no known medical explanation. And that report, at 10 weeks old, of unexplained high sodium levels. Looking back, in hindsight, the doctor said, I wish I had noticed this before or I wish I had put all this together. We wanted to speak to additional medical providers who treated Garnet, but

our requests were denied as privacy rules were cited. There were so many missed opportunities. It appears that somehow something fell through the cracks. Calls were made to child service agencies. 48 Hours obtained redacted reports regarding Lacey and concerns about feeding issues, Garnett's weight, and about her changing stories regarding his medical problems. Those cases were all investigated and closed,

saying neglect was unsubstantiated. It appears that these cases were not investigated at the level that they needed to be. They say this goes back years, how you've tried to hurt your son for years. So you take your child to the doctor and the hospitals seeking help to figure out what was going on with them, or you neglect them, so you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. So what do they expect you to do? I took care of him.

I made sure he had adequate medical history. I did never once harm my son. But the police and the Westchester, New York, District Attorney thought she did harm Garnett. And five months after Garnett died, Lacey Spears was charged and held without bail for murder in the second degree and first-degree manslaughter. We were able to take what she was telling us and look at the medical records. And you know what? Everything is explained in matches.

It makes no sense. David Sachs and Stephen Rebling are Lacey Spears' attorneys. It was clear through her actions, her demeanor. Obviously, she didn't do it from the first second. Said, I didn't do it from the first second. Said, I didn't do this. Instead, Lacey and her legal team insist Garnett's death is a medical mistake, with Nyack Hospital at fault. They changed his diet.

They exacerbated his stomach problem. They didn't give him the necessary medication during the day to combat dehydration. Then they exacerbated the dehydration by giving him a rapid infusion of IV solution. IVs contain sodium solutions, which the defense believes could have contributed to Garnett's condition and death. This defendant... That argument was refuted by the prosecution. When Lacey Spears' trial began in February of 2015

with her family traveling from out of state there to support her. The evidence will show and convince you that this defendant took her son into that bathroom and poisoned him with salt in his G-tube. You will see what she does. The prosecution set out to prove this by playing that video recorded at the hospital. They contend when Lacey took Garnet to the bathroom, she poisoned him with salt on two occasions through his feeding tube, a claim Lacey and her lawyers dismiss.

There is not one single frame of this video that shows Lacey Spears doing anything to her child. In fact, when you watch it, it has just the opposite effect. It's exonerating. The video shows him being the healthy kid he could be if his mother would leave him alone. In February of 2015, the prosecution and defense put on their case in Lacey Spears' trial for the murder of her five-year-old son, Garnet. Let's look at the video and see what we find.

That video from the hospital, intended to record possible seizures, is crucial. There's Garnet and there's Lacey. is crucial. There's Garnet and there's Lacey. Lacey's lawyers showed us sections of the video, recorded without audio, which they believe, portrays a caring mother. Lacey, they say, takes Garnet at his request to the bathroom, which is out of camera range, 17 times during his stay, and takes part of the feeding tube in only twice just to clean it.

All she has to do is load up a syringe and jam it in the tube. It won't take any time at all. Every time she takes her son into that bathroom, the door remains open. Every time? Every time. If you're going to do something, as the prosecution alleged, that's as devious and is as sophisticated of having to connect a tube to his abdomen, to have to then pour a fluid down this tube to poison him, you're going to do it with the door open so anybody can walk in and interrupt you?

It just doesn't make common sense. But the prosecution says the video shows that Garnett becomes ill after two of those bathroom visits. First in the morning, he appears uncomfortable and requires the attention of the nurse. And then later that same day, about 30 minutes after another bathroom trip, he starts gagging and thrashing. No eyewitness, no forensic evidence, and no answer to the question why. The defense, however, questions where the salt

or syringe would come from. And if Lacey used the cup in her hand, they say, she wouldn't be able to pour from it into the extremely small opening in the feeding tube. What is clear to both sides is that Garnett was in distress. He soon stops breathing and is intubated. And blood work shows his sodium level has soared without any medical explanation. In five hours, it went from 144 to 182, and every doctor who testified agreed that that cannot, cannot happen naturally.

Adding to suspicion, Lacey had been searching on the internet about high sodium levels. More searches, dangers of high sodium, signs of high sodium. Garnet was presenting with the exact same symptoms that he presented with when he was nine weeks old, ten weeks old, and we found out that he had high sodium. Lacey, five years later, you're thinking that he's exhibiting the same symptoms of high sodium, and you want to do research? Days before the boy enters into Nyack Hospital? I'm his mother. I have to figure out what's going on with him. She spends a considerable amount of time not searching for sodium,

but searching for other possible reasons, whether it be a vitamin D deficiency, a brain tumor, all sorts of stuff. Another area of contention, those feeding bags from Lacey's apartment that tested for deadly levels of sodium, bags the police did not recover in their initial search. This defendant had two feeding bags loaded with salt in her house, and there is no explanation for that. The police lost the chain of custody. They only reestablished it after somebody went in and admittedly took it out

and had it for more than 24 hours. That is tampering. One thing not brought up, Munchausen by proxy. The responsible thing to do as attorneys is to have your client submit to a mental examination. She did. She was not diagnosed with Munchausen's by proxy. It is up to Lacey's lawyers, not the prosecution, to raise the psychiatric defense and her attorney's contend. This is not about Lacey, but about the hospital not giving Garnett proper medical care. Nyack Hospital denied our requests to comment on the case.

After approximately three weeks, the trial neared its close. Lacey Spears is presumed innocent in the eyes of the law. Without the defense calling a single witness, counting, they did all they needed to do, just raise reasonable doubt. You're required to also presume her innocence until they meet their burden. I'm going to ask you to put the pieces together. I'm going to ask you to do justice for a five-year-old boy who should not be dead. One month after Lacey Spears' trial began. Members of the jury. On the third day after the case went to the jury.

How say you as to count one murder in the second degree, not guilty or guilty? ...a verdict is reached. Guilty. Guilty of depraved indifference murder of a child. Lacey, her family, and her attorneys were stunned. Shocking. I did not murder my son. I did not hurt my son. And to be told that I was

found guilty of murdering my own son, there are no words to describe that. Juries make mistakes every day. I strongly believe that there was insufficient evidence to convict her of murder, depraved indifference murder in this case. The defense believes the charge of depraved indifference murder was one the jury did not fully understand and one that should have never been applied to this case. That is a focus of their appeal. So depraved indifference means that you have a complete disregard for the victim in this case. A complete uncaring or disregard whether or not the victim lives or dies. And time after time after time, in this case, it's Lacey Spears and only Lacey Spears

who's calling for help for her son. Her lawyers remain steadfast. In their belief, Lacey could never harm Garnett or any child. If circumstances were different, would you feel comfortable having Lacey Spears

take care of her children? I'd have no reason not to. And I would agree with that. The court in New York is now in session. In April of 2015, Lacey Spears was sentenced, and those words, never heard during trial, were now spoken by the judge. Ms. Spears, one does not have to be a psychologist

to realize you suffer from a mental illness known as Munchausen by proxy. He then delivered his sentence, 20 years to life. Do you even realize the magnitude of your crime? By not imposing the maximum sentence, I'm combining punishment with something that you really did not exhibit towards your son, namely mercy. I sit here in prison, innocent. I loved my son. He was cherished. He was taken care of.

When I lost Garnet, I lost a part of who I was, and I lost my future. I lost a part of who I was, and I lost my future. And for friends who knew Garnett, memories are tinged with regrets. I feel like if we would have saw the signs, we could have helped Lacey and helped Garnett. It hurts my heart because that poor innocent child didn't deserve this. And there is the hope that the little boy who moved so many is not forgotten. He connected with people and he made people feel loved. He was this soaring spirit of goodness and that's how we should remember him and honor him. Lacey Spears will be eligible for parole in 2034.

She will be 46 years old.