Salem Mom Who Withheld Son's Meds Is Sentenced To 8-10 Years In Prison

April 15, 2011

The Associated Press

A Massachusetts woman convicted of attempted murder for withholding cancer medications from her autistic son was been sentenced to eight to 10 years in prison.

Kristen LaBrie weeps before being sentenced to eight to 10 years in prison at Lawrence Superior Court, in Lawrence on Friday. (AP)

Kristen LaBrie wept and expressed remorse before a judge announced her punishment Friday in Lawrence Superior Court. She said she misses her son every day.

Authorities say LaBrie stopped filling Jeremy Fraser's cancer medication prescriptions for a potentially curable lymphoma. Jeremy died in 2009 at age 9.

Judge Richard Welch said he had sympathy for the "tremendous pressures" LaBrie faced as a single parent raising a severely disabled child. But he said withholding the boy's treatment was "an extended, secretive and calculated act that chills the soul."

LaBrie could have gotten 20 years. Prosecutors asked for at least 16. Her lawyer sought one year in jail.

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This program aired on April 15, 2011. The audio for this program is not available.