Latarsha Sanders, a Massachusetts mother has been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of her two children. She however blames her actions on voodoo.
For the 48 year old Massachusetts mother who was recently found guilty of fatally stabbing her two small children, it’s the end of the road. The sons, La’Son Brito, 5, and Edson Brito, 8, were discovered in the house in 2018 with multiple stab wounds and wrapped in bedding. Sanders, their mother, allegedly informed police that the killings had something 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.
“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 found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder by a jury on Tuesday, and she was sentenced on Wednesday in Plymouth Superior Court. She will be imprisoned for life without the chance of release.
After the hearing, Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz expressed his hope that the family and the dad of the little boys will receive some measure of justice. Before the jury’s decision was announced, they deliberated for four hours.
Police on the scene that day in February, 2018 say that they found Latarsha 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 Latarsha 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.