Despite pleas for leniency from family and friends, an
Illinois Circuit Court judge sentenced Bonnie Liltz to four years in
prison Wednesday for drugging and killing her disabled 28-year-old
daughter in a failed murder-suicide attempt nearly a year ago, according
to her defense attorney.
“Bonnie was absolutely crushed,” attorney Thomas Glasgow said, adding that her bail was revoked and she was taken into custody immediately.
While she was handcuffed to the courtroom table, she held his hand for 15 minutes and sobbed, Glasgow said.
Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Gerber had recommended only four years of probation and mental health counseling for Liltz, though the charge carried a penalty of up to 14 years in prison.
“This case was a tragedy for everyone involved and given the very tragic extenuating circumstances, we felt that a term of probation rather than imprisonment was the appropriate sentence,” the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Liltz, 56, thought she needed to take her daughter Courtney’s life in order to save it. Heaven was “the only place I knew she would be safe and happy,” she told Illinois Circuit Court Judge Joel Greenblatt last week.
The mother, who suffers from “profound” health issues, Glasgow said, pleaded guilty last week to involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors reduced her initial murder charge.
A withered Liltz — who says she has weighed no more than 100 pounds since she was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer at 19 — recalled thinking the night she decided to drug her daughter that “If I am dying, what’s going to happen to Courtney?” according to court transcripts.
Courtney suffered from cerebral palsy and had severe cognitive defects stemming from a seizure when she was 2 years old, according to Glasgow.
With the brain function of a toddler, Courtney could say only one word: “Momma,” friend Gloria Cheever said.
“I would like nothing more than to turn the clock back and have the ability to care for her again,” Liltz told a judge May 11 at her sentencing hearing. “I have a pain inside that is beyond words.”
In court last week, pleas of mercy and praise echoed from Liltz’s own mother, father, sister and friends, including Cheever. Those close to her described Liltz as a woman who, despite a body ravaged by radiation therapy that rendered her unable to conceive, had adopted — and loved boundlessly — a severely disabled 5-year-old who needed 24-hour care.
The judge’s sentence is “certainly just,” said Tony Paulauski, executive director of the Arc of Illinois, a public policy group that advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
“What if it was a child without a disability?” Paulauski asked. “She would have been tarred and feathered. There would have been no mercy.
“The judge obviously realized that the young woman’s life was taken from her,” he said.
Cheever said that she hopes “they put her in a facility with a lot of good medical help, because she is going to need it.”
“I just hope she survives,” Cheever told CNN.
The judge recommended Liltz be evaluated to determine whether she should be put in the medical wing at the Cook County Jail, but she will be there only until Friday before she is transferred to the Lincoln Correctional Center, where she will undergo a new assessment, Glasgow said.
Glasgow, who is “absolutely stunned” by the sentence, plans to file a motion to reconsider the ruling.
“Bonnie was absolutely crushed,” attorney Thomas Glasgow said, adding that her bail was revoked and she was taken into custody immediately.
While she was handcuffed to the courtroom table, she held his hand for 15 minutes and sobbed, Glasgow said.
Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Gerber had recommended only four years of probation and mental health counseling for Liltz, though the charge carried a penalty of up to 14 years in prison.
“This case was a tragedy for everyone involved and given the very tragic extenuating circumstances, we felt that a term of probation rather than imprisonment was the appropriate sentence,” the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Liltz, 56, thought she needed to take her daughter Courtney’s life in order to save it. Heaven was “the only place I knew she would be safe and happy,” she told Illinois Circuit Court Judge Joel Greenblatt last week.
The mother, who suffers from “profound” health issues, Glasgow said, pleaded guilty last week to involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors reduced her initial murder charge.
A withered Liltz — who says she has weighed no more than 100 pounds since she was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer at 19 — recalled thinking the night she decided to drug her daughter that “If I am dying, what’s going to happen to Courtney?” according to court transcripts.
Courtney suffered from cerebral palsy and had severe cognitive defects stemming from a seizure when she was 2 years old, according to Glasgow.
With the brain function of a toddler, Courtney could say only one word: “Momma,” friend Gloria Cheever said.
“I would like nothing more than to turn the clock back and have the ability to care for her again,” Liltz told a judge May 11 at her sentencing hearing. “I have a pain inside that is beyond words.”
In court last week, pleas of mercy and praise echoed from Liltz’s own mother, father, sister and friends, including Cheever. Those close to her described Liltz as a woman who, despite a body ravaged by radiation therapy that rendered her unable to conceive, had adopted — and loved boundlessly — a severely disabled 5-year-old who needed 24-hour care.
The judge’s sentence is “certainly just,” said Tony Paulauski, executive director of the Arc of Illinois, a public policy group that advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
“What if it was a child without a disability?” Paulauski asked. “She would have been tarred and feathered. There would have been no mercy.
“The judge obviously realized that the young woman’s life was taken from her,” he said.
Cheever said that she hopes “they put her in a facility with a lot of good medical help, because she is going to need it.”
“I just hope she survives,” Cheever told CNN.
The judge recommended Liltz be evaluated to determine whether she should be put in the medical wing at the Cook County Jail, but she will be there only until Friday before she is transferred to the Lincoln Correctional Center, where she will undergo a new assessment, Glasgow said.
Glasgow, who is “absolutely stunned” by the sentence, plans to file a motion to reconsider the ruling.
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