"Voodoo Made Me Do It." Massachusetts Mother Gets Sentenced to Life for The Murder of Her Two Children
It’s the end of the line for a Massachusetts mother who was recently convicted of fatally stabbing her two young children. The boys, Edson Brito, 8, and La’Son Brito, 5, were found wrapped in bedding in the home in 2018 with multiple stab wounds. The mother, 48-year-old Latarsha L. Sanders reportedly told authorities that the killings had to do with “voodoo stuff.”
According to CBS News, the defense attempted to argue that Sanders was not mentally competent when the crime was committed.
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“The family has been totally and completely supportive of Miss Sanders because they have recognized from day one that she was insane at the time that she killed her two children,” defense attorney Elliot Levine stated in court.
Sanders was sentenced on Wednesday in Plymouth Superior Court just one day after a jury found her guilty of two counts of murder in the first degree. She will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“Hopefully this is some form of justice for the dad of the little boys and the family,” Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz said after the hearing. The jury deliberated for four hours before the verdict was read.
Police on the scene that day in February, 2018 say that they found Sanders outside of the home “distraught and combative.” While the mother may have believed that she cleared all evidence of the crime, the murder weapon, a kitchen knife, was found in the sink by authorities.
“Sanders cleaned up the children, placed them in beds, and mopped up the crime scene,” prosecutors said in a news release. “Sanders never sought medical attention for the boys.”
Although Sanders told investigators that the killings were “ritualistic” in some manner, authorities also have reason to believe that the other motive may have been money, and that the mother had plans to set up an online fundraiser for the two children.
According to prosecutors, the boys’ father is all in favor of the sentencing.
“The pain of the father, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, grandmother that pain falls on their hearts and that’s a life sentence for them,” said Judge Hon. William Sullivan.
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