Drug-Using Mother Gets 8 Years for Accidentally Suffocating Son

In a case of justice tempered with mercy, Christine Nicole Symmonds was sentenced Friday to eight years in state prison for accidentally suffocating her infant son while sleeping off a drug binge.

A jury had convicted her of second-degree murder in October, punishable by 15 years to life in prison. But Orange County Superior Court Judge Carla M. Singer said a sentence like that would constitute cruel and unusual punishment, adding that “punishment should fit the crime as well as the criminal.”

Instead, Singer sentenced Symmonds, 21, only for the crime of child abuse causing death, acknowledging the trial’s emotional toll on herself, the prosecutor and public defender. “It’s as emotional a case as I have ever seen,” the judge said.

Deputy Public Defender Dolores Yost, who had asked for leniency on behalf of her client, was overcome by emotion at the beginning of the hearing. And Deputy District Atty. Howard Gundy agreed that a second-degree murder sentence would be extreme in Symmonds’ case.

“I felt it was the right thing to do,” said Gundy, who argued against probation but deferred to the judge in recommending the length of the sentence. “This was not a life case, but justice still had to be dispensed.”

Symmonds expressed remorse in a brief statement to the court, apologizing to her family and the infant’s father, “who misses him.”

“I’m very, very sorry. I miss him every single day. I should’ve known better,” she said.

It was evident from the start of the hearing that Singer had struggled in reaching her decision. The judge acknowledged that Symmonds was a good mother to her 3-month-old son, Jason Blanchard, but failed to protect him from the effects of her drug abuse.

“You have to do more than feed, clothe and rock the baby when he cries ... “ the judge said. Singer alluded to a probation officer’s report saying it was not surprising that Symmonds became a methamphetamine and marijuana user given her origins in a home where drug use was commonplace.

“She grew up in an unstable atmosphere, in a home where drugs were used ... “ the judge said. “The defendant’s state of mind was certainly altered by her use of methamphetamine. Her state of mind was constantly of concern for her infant. The child was fed, clothed and certainly not a victim of abuse before he died.”

While acknowledging that Symmonds cared for the child, however, the judge also scolded her for failing to understand that being a good mother also means being drug-free. She recalled testimony about Symmonds taking a set of books from the house where she was staying and selling them for $20, spending $5 on cigarettes, $5 on hamburgers and the rest on drugs.

Symmonds’ son died June 27, 2003, while they slept on an air mattress in a Lake Forest home where they had been staying.

During the trial, Gundy called Symmonds “an experienced drug user” who was “sleeping off the effect of her intoxication” on the day Jason died.

But Yost offered a more sympathetic view of her client, arguing that Symmonds stopped using drugs when after she became pregnant and that Jason was born drug-free.

The attorney offered records showing that Jason had been taken to the doctor four times during his three months of life, a sign that Symmonds was an attentive mother.