A Kansas woman will spend decades behind bars after her 2-year-old son fatally shot his four-year-old sister with her handgun.
Shawnee County District Judge Cheryl Rios handed Mariann L. Belair, 24, a life sentence with the possibility of parole for the shooting death of her daughter, Lawrencia Perez-Belair. A jury found Belair guilty of one count of first-degree murder in the commission of a felony and one count of aggravated child endangerment.
According to CBS News, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a majority of children killed while playing with guns took place in an apartment or home – more than 50% of the deaths were in the child's own house.
On Oct.14, 2023, the defendant, who resided at 435 N.E. Grattan Ave. in northeast Topeka's Oakland community, told the jury she was getting ready to go and get some food for her son, daughter, and 1-year-old daughter. Then, Belair removed her 9mm handgun from her diaper bag and placed the handgun on the couch next to her. She testified that Lawrencia had distracted her to take a cellphone picture of them when her two-year-old son grabbed the gun and shot his sister to death.
In a rebuttal, prosecutors argued the defendant’s gun had been on the couch next to her in plain view for about 12 minutes. Hence, the law requires her to be culpable for her daughter’s death.
“No reasonable person would have let the gun sit there so long with small children present,” said Shawnee County Deputy District Attorney Lauren Amrein, reported The Topeka Capital-Journal.
Meanwhile, after Belair’s trial, the defendant filed a motion to fire her trial lawyer, Nick David and asked the court for a new trial or for her conviction to be set aside. Belair claimed David had discouraged her from taking the 10-year and 3-month plea deal initially offered by the prosecutor’s office.
The judge denied the motion.
Belair will be eligible for parole after serving 25 years of her sentence.
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