US woman gets 18 years for murder of autistic son
Print Edition
A SELF-MADE health care millionaire who fatally drugged her autistic child five years ago in a New York City hotel room was sentenced on Thursday to 18 years in prison by a judge who said he disbelieved much of her defense and scolded her for not showing remorse.
Gigi Jordan, a nurse-turned-pharmaceutical-entrepreneur, said her son, 8-year-old Jude Mirra, had been sexually abused for years by his biological father and other men in her life.
She argued that she killed the boy in February 2010 to keep him safe from her ex-husband who was planning to kill her and take her money, leaving Jude defenseless to more sexual torture.
She said she then tried to kill herself.
But Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Charles Solomon dismissed the notion that her nearly mute, autistic child was repeatedly abused, noting there was no credible evidence to substantiate the claims.
“All of her money, all of her resources, she decided to kill him,” he said.
“There were so many things she could have done.”
Though charged with murder, a jury in November found her guilty of a lesser manslaughter charge, saying she was under “extreme emotional disturbance” when she gave the boy the fatal dose.
Solomon also said he didn’t believe her suicide attempt was genuine and admonished her for giving an interview to a TV show while the jury was deliberating.
Jordan, 54, has spent the past five years jailed on Rikers Island, time that will count toward her prison term. Prosecutors had sought a 25-year sentence.
Her attorneys said they were disappointed in the lengthy prison term.
Jordan never pursued a plea deal because she wanted to take the stand to tell her story, an account the jury apparently accepted when it convicted her of the lesser charge, said one of her attorneys, Ron Kuby, after the proceeding.
“The judge in the guise of paying lip service to the jury’s decision went about trying to undo it,” he said.
Jordan, estimated to be worth US$40 million, left her career to find treatment for her son, visiting medical experts at universities across the countries.
Prosecutors argued the killing was intentional and carried out because she could no longer care for the needs of her son.
District Attorney Cyrus Vance hailed the verdict.
“The killing of an 8-year-old boy is a premeditated act of child abuse,” he said.
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