Playgrounds were made for children to play and enjoy and not for them to be killed. Unfortunately, it was where the lifeless body of the three-year-old Ji' Aire Lee of La Plata, Maryland, United States, was found in May 2015.
Romechia Simms, Ji' Aire's mother who allegedly pushed him for almost two days until he died, has been spared from being sent to jail and even to a mental institution. That was after the 25 years old schizophrenic mother entered a plea for a "lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter" during the hearing which was held Monday, Feb. 22.
"Did I mean for any of this to happen?" said Romechia Simms. "No. It's just an unfortunate situation," she added.
Medical examiners who were in charge of the case said that the body of Ji' Aire's body showed no clear signs of trauma and the cause of the little boy's death was hypothermia and dehydration. But despite that, they have stated that the boy's case was still a homicide.
Simms underwent a couple of mental health evaluations that showed why she shouldn't be held criminally responsible for the death of her son, as reported by WTop. Elizabeth Connell, Simm's defense lawyer, stated that her client has also been previously diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2014.
Connell also said that her client told her that prior to the incident Simms heard voices which pushed her to do the crime, as reported by WGN TV. With all that, the jury concluded that Ji' Aire's mother was mentally ill during the execution of the crime, thus can't be held criminally responsible for it.
Anthony Covington, one of the prosecutors of the case, still believed that Simms must be held liable for her son's death. "Tragic things like this can happen if folks don't take care of themselves," Anthony Covington said.
