Mother Sentenced to 18 Months in Crash That Killed Infant

Over the impassioned pleas of a family already scarred by tragedy, a judge sentenced a Canyon Country mother Wednesday to 18 months in jail for the death of her infant son in a car accident.

Lesia Smith-Pappas, 33, covered her eyes and convulsed with sobs as Judge Shari K. Silver imposed the maximum sentence the law allows.

“You caused another person to die,” Silver told Smith-Pappas, whose son had not been strapped in and who had twice before been cited for failing to buckle in her children.

“Your innocent, 3-month-old son had the right to expect you to protect him,” Silver said. “You believe you are above the law. You blame everyone else but yourself.”

Sitting in court as his wife was sentenced, Edward Pappas whispered, “My poor kids.”

Earlier, Pappas had begged the judge to spare his wife from a jail term because he and the couple’s three surviving children need her. “For my children, I ask you for mercy, from my soul,” he pleaded.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Foltz had asked the judge to sentence Smith-Pappas to a year in jail, saying: “A little baby 3 months old is dead because of what [she] did and didn’t do.”

Silver’s sentence exceeded the prosecutor’s request. The judge ruled that Smith-Pappas may serve the final six months under monitored house arrest.

A jury convicted Smith-Pappas last month of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter, but acquitted her of more serious charges that carry lengthy prison terms.

On Wednesday, Smith-Pappas read a passage from the Bible and told the judge: “Every night I go to bed crying. I just want this whole nightmare to be over with.

“I didn’t do anything wrong. All I know is my children are suffering, my husband is suffering, and I have suffered.”

The judge denied a request by defense attorney Dale Galipo that Smith-Pappas return home for a few days to break the news to her three surviving children, Christina 10, Nicholas, 8, and Vincent, 5.

“So she can go on five other talk shows?” snapped the judge, referring to the defendant’s recent spate of television appearances.

Saying Smith-Pappas never has accepted responsibility for the baby’s death, Silver instead ordered deputies to immediately take her to jail. “I think it’s time to go and pay the piper,” the judge said.

Smith-Pappas had never obtained a driver’s license and, the judge said, none of her children’s seat belts were fastened when she rolled the family van on winding, rural Bouquet Canyon Road while driving the children to school Aug. 29, 1995. Prosecutors contended that she was speeding.

Baby Alex, 3 months and 8 days old, was crushed in his car seat beneath the van.

In imposing the sentence, Silver said that since the accident, Smith-Pappas has consistently blamed others. She blamed gravel on the side of the road and the other driver she hit, even though she crossed into his lane. She blamed her son’s death on passersby who attempted to revive him, on paramedics, even on the emergency room doctors, the judge said.

Silver also noted that Smith-Pappas’ prior two convictions for failing to secure her children with seat belts were “very disturbing” because she had been put on notice.

“You are a bad driver,” Silver said. “You detest authority.”

Silver--who said she had gone to the DMV, picked up a driver handbook and written the defendant’s name on it--waved it during sentencing. She urged Smith-Pappas to study it while she serves her sentence.

The judge’s words brought an end to a heart-wrenching tragedy that tore apart a family.

A week after the accident, the Pappas children were placed in foster homes. Their mother spent five days in jail. Their father subsequently suffered a heart attack.

After a series of supervised visits, the family was reunited several weeks before the trial. A hearing on the family’s status is scheduled in Juvenile Dependency Court on Oct. 10.

Smith-Pappas’ family, including the two children hurt in the crash, asked the judge for leniency. The third child was home with his father at the time of the accident.