Homicide

Mom who blogged about son's constant health woes is convicted of his salt-poisoning death

Associated Press
Published | Updated

FILE - In this Feb. 3, 2015 file photo, defendant Lacey Spears brushes her hair back during the opening statements portion of her murder trial at the Westchester County Courthouse in White Plains, N.Y. Spears was convicted Monday March 2, 2015, of poisoning her son, 5-year-old Garnett-Paul Spears, to death by force-feeding heavy concentrations of sodium through his stomach tube. A jury in the New York suburbs found Spears, of Scottsville, Kentucky, guilty of second-degree murder in the death. (AP Photo/The Journal-News, Joe Larese, File, Pool) (The Associated Press)

Lacey Spears, flanked by her attorneys David Sachs, left, and Stephen Riebling, Jr., right, looks toward the jury as her guilty verdict is read at the Westchester County Courthouse in White Plains, N.Y., Monday, March 2, 2015. Spears, who blogged for years about her son Garnett-Paul Spears' constant health woes, was convicted of poisoning the 5-year-old to death by force-feeding heavy concentrations of sodium through his stomach tube. (AP Photo/The Journal News, Joe Larese, Pool) (The Associated Press)

A woman who blogged for years about her son's constant health woes has been convicted in New York of poisoning him to death with salt.

A jury on Monday found Lacey Spears, of Scottsville, Kentucky, guilty of second-degree murder in the death of 5-year-old Garnett-Paul Spears.

Prosecutors contended that Spears reveled in the attention Garnett's illness brought her and that she force-fed him heavy concentrations of sodium through a stomach tube.

Several doctors testified that there was no medical explanation for the spike in Garnett's sodium levels that led to his death.

Prosecutors say the 27-year-old Spears eventually killed the boy because she feared he would start telling people she was making him ill.

The defense portrayed Spears as a caring mother and Garnett as sickly.