A Kansas mother whose two-year-old son fatally shot his four-year-old sister has been sentenced to life in prison.
Mariann Belair, 24, will not be eligible for parole until she has served 25 years under the sentence imposed on Tuesday in Shawnee county district court, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. Jurors found her guilty in May of aggravated child endangerment and first-degree murder in the commission of a felony.
Belair testified at her trial that she removed a loaded 9mm handgun from a diaper bag and placed it on the couch next to her in October while she was home with her four-year-old daughter, Lawrencia Perez-Belair, and her two-year-old son and one-year-old daughter.
She said she had planned to go get food with her family and was making sure she had everything she needed in her bag. She said Lawrencia then distracted her by asking her to shoot a cellphone photo of them together.
Lauren Amrein, deputy district attorney, told jurors that the gun sat on the couch for at least 12 minutes before Belair’s son, who was about to turn three, picked it up and shot his sister. She said no reasonable person would have let the gun sit there so long with small children present.
Court records show Belair complained in a handwritten motion that her trial attorney discouraged her from taking a plea agreement that would have resulted in her being sentenced to 10 years and three months in prison. A new attorney assigned to the case has requested a new trial.
Meanwhile, in Virginia, a man is in hospital in critical condition after reportedly leaving his gun lying around and being shot by the two-year-old son of his girlfriend, ABC reported.
None of those involved in the Virginia incident have yet been named publicly, but police are investigating and reported that the man left the loaded gun on a chair as he prepared to leave the house and the toddler picked it up and accidentally shot him.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
