An Iberia woman, accussed of killing her infant son in 2007, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Christina White, 28, was sentenced Thursday afternoon in Laclede County by Special Judge Michael Cordonnier of Greene County, after she entered an "Alford" plea earlier this year to charges of second-degree murder, first-degree arson and endangering the welfare of a child.
White's sentence comes five years after her 7-month old infant son, Wayne Anderson Jr., died from burns he suffered when his blanket was set on-fire in his crib, in the family's Iberia home.
The baby died July 31, 2007.
In an "Alford" plea, the defendant doesn't admit committing the criminal acts charged, but admits the prosecution likely has enough evidence to prove the charges if the case went to trial. The judge then finds the defendant guilty of the charges.
White has been in jail ever since she was arrested July 12, 2007 - the day after the fire.
Miller County Prosecutor Matt Howard said there was a plea agreement which consolidated into a single count the allegations of endangering other children who were in the home during the fire, but who were not injured.
The case had been moved to Lebanon from Tuscumbia on a change of venue.
Howard originally charged White with first-degree murder, and had filed notice he planned to seek the death penalty in the case.
But last December, Senior Judge J. Miles Sweeney, a retired Greene County circuit judge who had been assigned to the case, ruled White could not be executed because of her mental retardation, and state and federal laws that prohibit executions under specific conditions, including retardation.