Mother received the maximum sentence for feeding her son with salt

A New York state court found 27-year-old Lacey Spears guilty of the murder of his five-year-old son. The boy died at the results of salt poisoning, and prosecutors designated her actions against the child as “torture”. The jury handed her the maximum sentence - 25 years in prison.

Five-year-old Garrett Spears was hospitalized last January with unexplained and dangerously high levels of sodium in his body. A few days later the boy died. His mother was accused of deliberately adding salt to his food, subjecting him to constant suffering. “Throughout his five years, Garrett Spears was constantly hospitalized, underwent multiple surgical procedures, and ultimately suffered fatal salt poisoning at the hands of the person who was supposed to be his protection—his mother. She used the child's illness to enrich herself, but her actions led to the death of her own child,” said District Attorney Janet DiFiore.

The defense tried to accuse the hospital staff of poisoning the child, but prosecutors provided evidence that salt fell into Garrett’s body through a food pipe, and the mother was to blame.