A Kentucky woman who shot her two sons to death will spend decades behind bars.
Bullitt County Judge Rodney Burress handed Tiffanie Lucas two life terms in prison with the possibility of parole for the shooting death of 9-year-old Jayden Howard and 6-year-old Maurice Baker Jr. Lucas pleaded guilty to two counts of murder without a bargain in exchange, leaving her fate to the decision of the judge.
"A mother is more than the giving of life," Burress said. "It is providing food, clothing, shelter, more importantly, love and security. I cannot imagine the sheer horror these children must have experienced seeing their mother with a gun. The sheer horror the second child had as he heard the discharge of that weapon with the first child, and maybe even both of them seeing their mother pull the trigger, taking their life," said Burress during the sentencing hearing, according to Newsweek.
On Nov. 8, 2023, officers responded to the 200 Block of Bentwood Drive after they received a distress call from neighbors. Upon arrival, authorities found the defendant collapsed in the neighbor’s yard before discovering the bloodied bodies of Jayden and Maurice in a bedroom at Lucas’ home with gunshot wounds to their heads.
During her initial interview with investigators, Lucas told authorities she had shot herself in the head, which her defense lawyer Richard Lawniczak claimed was her plan from the beginning, but the gun jammed. Furthermore, the defendant initially claimed someone had given her the gun, but admitted nobody else was at the residence during the fatal incident. The neighbor’s doorbell camera captured the audio sound of four gunshots before the defendant cried for help.
Lawniczak argued the defendant should be sentenced to a lighter sentence of 35 years because she suffered from a psychotic disorder. To support the claim, Lucas’ lawyer submitted a neighbor’s doorbell camera video footage that showed the defendant asking for help in an apparent mental health episode that was brought upon Lucas by the side effects of withdrawal from her opioid abuse.
Family members described the defendant as selfish and blamed social services for being derelict in their duty to protect the two young boys.
"She chose to take drugs and put them in that situation," said Maurice’s father, Maurice Baker, reported WDRB.com.
Lucas will be eligible for parole after serving a minimum of 20 years in prison.
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