Salem, Massachusetts mother Kristen LaBrie changed her plea to guilty Wednesday in the death of her 9-year-old autistic son Jeremy.
It was the first time LaBrie admitted publicly that she withheld chemotherapy medication from her son who had cancer, causing him to die in 2009.
Prosecutor Kate MacDougall said, "The evidence was that the only possible reason the defendant had for failing to give Jeremy his life-saving treatment was her desire that he die."
"She had an extremely autistic son, she didn't get any support," said LaBrie's defense attorney John Morris.
Morris says his client now understands why she should be legally held responsible for her son's death.
Morris said, "It's time for closure, it's time to move on, she has taken responsibility, she is not the same person she was when this all happened."
The judge sentenced LaBrie to time served. LaBrie has already spent five years in prison from when she was previously convicted in her son's death. All but one charge was vacated in March due to ineffective counsel, leaving prosecutors with the decision of whether to re-try the case or take a plea deal.
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Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said, "Justice has been served today with the defendant admitting her guilt and what she did and didn't do in the care of her child."
Morris said, "Will this ever not leave her mind? I don't think so. I think she lived with it for five years and she's going to live with it the rest of her life."
LaBrie remains on probation for five years for the charge of reckless endangerment at was upheld by the Supreme Judicial Court.
