A Georgia mother of three has been sentenced to life in prison after a judge in Atlanta ruled on Friday that she killed her two young sons by placing them in an oven and turning it on.
Lamora Williams, 24, faced a range of convictions, including two murder counts related to the tragic deaths of her sons, Ja’Karter Penn, aged 1, and Ke’Yaunte Penn, aged 2, who lost their lives about an hour apart in 2017.
On that tragic day, the woman who has since faced condemnation dialed 911.
“When I came in, the stove was laying on my son, on my youngest son’s head, and my other son was laid out on the floor with his brains laid out on the floor,” Williams told the dispatcher. “I don’t know what to do. I just came home from work.”
In February 2018, Williams faced serious legal charges, including four counts of felony murder, two counts of murder, two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of concealing the death of another, and one count of making a false statement. She faced multiple charges, including two counts of first-degree cruelty to children, one count of second-degree cruelty to children, an additional count of aggravated assault, one count of obstructing a law enforcement officer, and one count of battery causing substantial physical harm.
The accused informed authorities that she entrusted her three children to a caregiver from noon until 11:30 p.m. that day, only to come home and discover that two of them had passed away during the caregiver’s absence.
Between midnight on October 12, 2017, and 11 p.m. the following day, it was alleged in an arrest warrant from the Atlanta Police Department that Williams “knowingly and intentionally” caused the deaths of two toddlers “by placing them in an oven and turning it on.”
Image: Lamora Williams (Atlanta Police Department).
Autopsy reports reveal that the boys were found with their heads trapped in an overturned oven. The medical examiner contradicted the police assertions regarding the children’s alleged burning.
Williams upheld her claim of innocence.
Prosecutors upheld the police department’s account of the situation, challenging the defendant’s story in the perceptions of the jurors, as detailed in a courtroom report by the Atlanta-based Fox affiliate WAGA.
The father of the boys also contacted emergency services — around the same moment. Williams showed reluctance in providing the dispatcher with her address located on Howell Place in the Oakland City West End area.
On Friday, Williams faced a conviction on 14 counts. She received a swift sentence of life imprisonment without the chance for parole, along with an extra 35 years.
