SOCASTEE, S.C. (AP) – A South Carolina woman who pleaded guilty to homicide by child abuse in January wants to take back her plea.
The Sun News reports 34-year-old Sarah Toney asked for a trial and jury to redecide her fate in a motion submitted May 18, which is under consideration by a judge.
Toney – sentenced to 27 years in jail in the 2015 drowning death of her five-month-old daughter – says her plea was “unlawfully induced” and public defender Jonathan Fox didn’t adequately represent her.
Toney says experts weren’t called to testify on her mental health.
Drug tests showed she was under the influence of methamphetamine and opioids when she walked into a creek holding her daughter. Fox pleaded for leniency in sentencing, saying Toney was sexually abused as a child.
