Mother to Prison for Son’s Death
Posted/updated on: August 25, 2012 at 7:42 am
LUFKIN (AP & STAFF) — A Lufkin woman is going to prison in connection with the death of her infant son who died while he slept with her. State District Judge Paul White sentenced Vanessa Lynn Clark, 33, to 9 years and 11 months in state prison. She can appeal since the sentence is one month short of the maximum sentence.
Back in April, a jury found Clark guilty of child endangerment in the death of her two month old son Tristan. Her husband, Mark Clark, was also indicted in the infant’s death. A jury acquitted him of the charge last May.
Prosecutors said Vanessa Clark had elevated levels of Xanax and hydrocodone in her system when she took Tristan into bed, despite her husband’s pleas that she not. Tristan was suffocated, just as 1-month-old Christian Clark was when Vanessa Clark placed him in bed with her and her husband in 2009.
