Brockton mother Latarsha Sanders sentenced to life in prison for murdering 2 sons
BROCKTON -- A Brockton mother was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday after she was found guilty of killing her two sons in 2018. Latarsha Sanders was arrested in February 2018 for stabbing her five-year-old and eight-year-old sons multiple times.
On Tuesday, jurors found Sanders guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of witness intimidation. They deliberated for about four hours.
A life sentence is mandatory for first-degree murder convictions. Sanders received two, that run concurrently, along with a 9-to-10-year sentence for witness intimidation.
"The pain of the father, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, grandmother that pain falls on their hearts and that's a life sentence for them," said Judge Hon. William Sullivan.
In 2018, prosecutors said the boys, Edson "Marlon" Brito, 8, and La'son Brito, 5, died in a "ritualistic incident" and that Sanders practiced Voodoo. Months later they said Sanders could have been motivated by money and planned to set up an online fundraiser for her family.
Sanders' defense attorney argued that she was insane at the time of the murders and said multiple family members are not in favor of the sentence.
The father of the boys is in favor of the sentence, according to prosecutors.
"These two young boys were innocent babies with their lives ahead of them," said Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz in a statement. "This was an emotional and difficult case for all of the family members involved. There were no winners in the courtroom today."