Mother Sentenced to 18 Months in Crash That Killed Infant Son

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 with pink-polished fingertips and her shoulders 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, who 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 6 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 swiftly 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.

Noting that 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 on 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 sentence, Silver noted 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 was the one who 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 failure to secure her children with seat belts were “very disturbing” because she’d been put on notice.

“You are a bad driver,” she scolded. “You detest authority.”

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

The judge’s hard words brought an end to a heart-wrenching tragedy that carried lessons about issues of motherhood, grief, and responsibility. It also 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.

Following 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.

Edward Pappas, who paints sets used in television and motion pictures, told the judge his children will be devastated.

“My children depend on her,” he said, shaking and teary-eyed. “Me, you can execute me tomorrow at dawn, but don’t hurt my kids no more.”

Resting his palms on his wife’s shoulders, he added, “This is a little girl. Maybe she’s not the brightest thing in the world, but she’s a mommy.”

Two of the children hurt in the crash also begged for leniency in letters to the judge. The third child was home with his father at the time of the accident.

Christina, who dotted her i’s with tiny hearts, wrote:

“Please don’t put my mom in jail. We need her here. We love her. What if you were a 10 year old and your Mom was going to jail for no reason? Who would help with homework? My dad could have another (Heart) attack and die. We would be homeless. We would be (Heart) broken. We would never be normal children because of it.”

Nicholas, her younger brother, wrote: “I need my Mom so please don’t take away my Mom Because I love her.”