Woman Who Threw Sons in River Pleads Guilty
A woman who threw her two young sons off a Long Beach bridge, killing one of them, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter Thursday and will be sentenced to 12 years in prison, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said.
Donna Jean Fleming of San Pedro also pleaded guilty to attempted voluntary manslaughter, Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Geltz said.
Sentencing before Superior Court Judge Bradford Andrews is set for Dec. 14. Fleming, whose trial was to have begun Thursday, was originally charged with murder in the Feb. 21 death of her 22-month-old son Craig. Her other son, Michael Fleming Jr., 3, survived the 50-foot drop into the Los Angeles River. She was charged with attempted murder for that crime.
Fleming, then 24, jumped off the Ocean Boulevard Bridge but was pulled from the river by a rescue squad.
Geltz said prosecutors accepted the plea bargain after psychiatric experts said the woman was legally insane at the time of the crime.
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