The last time Kelly N. Meining faced a Clark County judge for sentencing, she received 24 years in prison for first-degree murder.
Friday, a judge shaved nearly four years off that term.
The 34-year-old Sifton woman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years and four months in prison for the stabbing death of her 20-month-old son, Bryce.
The new sentence better reflects the May, 19, 2006, incident, Senior Deputy Prosecutor John Fairgrieve conceded, for which her original sentence was reversed on the basis of a procedural error.
New evidence of Meining’s mental health problems showed she likely couldn’t form the premeditated intent required for first-degree murder, he said.
Because of that, Fairgrieve offered Meining a plea deal to second-degree murder, which requires less intent. The sentence includes a deadly weapon enhancement.
Meining’s attorney, Therese Lavallee, added that her client wanted to plead guilty because she didn’t want to put her family or the community through the trauma of a trial.
And “it was important to her that the issue of premeditation be taken out of her conviction,” Lavallee said.
Meining had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in 2007.
Last year, the state Court of Appeals granted Meining the right to withdraw her plea on the basis that she was not properly notified of the potential length of her prison term.
Meining came back to Clark County in June for a new trial.
On April 20, after a two-day insanity hearing, Superior Court Judge Robert Lewis ruled that Meining understood right from wrong and was not legally insane when she killed her son. If the judge had decided to acquit her by reason of insanity, Meining would have been committed indefinitely to Western State Hospital.
Now she will go back to Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor but will receive credit for the nearly four years she’s been in custody.
Father speaks
Before the judge imposed the sentence, Meining’s father, Paul Reed, offered a few words. He wanted Lewis to know he thought his daughter was clearly psychotic when she killed her son, whom she loved.
Testimony at the insanity hearing had included evidence Meining had been playing on the floor with Bryce at their home moments before stabbing him.
Reed said his daughter didn’t remember the stabbing, nor giving a confession to deputies afterward.
“I feel there was a lot that was not said,” he told the judge.
While Lewis determined Meining’s case did not meet Washington’s narrow standard for insanity, he acknowledged her mental health problems as “significant.”
He ordered her sentence to include ongoing treatment for her bipolar disorder.
“Hopefully with medicine and treatment, you will receive the help you need for this not to happen again,” he said to Meining.
Lavallee, speaking for her client, said that’s exactly what Meining wants.
“It is her hope the community doesn’t forget about it,” Lavallee said. “And for people to understand that mothers can be dangerous to themselves and their children, and for (the community) to strive to do what they can to prevent it.”
Laura McVicker: 360-735-4516 or laura.mcvicker@columbian.com.
