A “reckless” New Mexico mom sobbed in court as she was sentenced over the death of her 2-year-old son, who shot and killed himself with a gun he found in her purse.
Amillia Garcia, 21, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday over the death of her toddler, Leon, who fatally shot himself in April last year while they were staying at an apartment with three friends, KOB reported.
Prosecutors had called for the “reckless” mom to face the maximum sentence of 23 years in prison for allowing the boy to so easily get the weapon, which she claimed she kept in her purse for self-defense.
“She knew that there was a serious risk of a firearm to anybody, let alone to her children getting those firearms,” Savannah Brandenburg-Koch, the deputy district attorney of New Mexico, told the hearing.
The mom, however, sobbed in court as she pleaded for a more lenient sentence, saying that she had suffered enough with the loss of her toddler.
“There’s no punishment that could amount to the pain that I have endured of the loss of my son and how much I have seen my son grow up without his mom. My boys mean everything to me,” she said through tears.
The gun had been in Garcia’s purse when Leon grabbed it and shot himself while she slept – before two of her friends disappeared with the weapon.
Garcia pleaded guilty to child abandonment and evidence tampering in March — and Judge David Murphy rejected the prosecution’s request for the maximum sentence, instead giving her 10 years in prison for what he didn’t consider a serious violent offense, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
“This case presents unique challenges outside of what is so horrible and tragic,” the judge said.
“It involved delving into the consequences of generational abuse,” he said of the mom’s claim that she only carried the gun because of years of abuse she suffered, allegedly at the hands of her dad.
“What I’m mindful of in a sentencing a case like this is that the scales will never be balanced. Leon Jr. has lost his life.”
He sentenced Garcia to also serve five years’ probation upon her release.
“I wish you well,” Murphy told the mom. “I’m sorry for the loss of your child.”
Garcia’s friend Angel Morales was sentenced to two years in prison last month after being convicted of evidence tampering, while the other awaits sentencing.
