Jeannette Killpack, the woman who killed her four-year-old adopted daughter by forcing water down her throat, was sentenced to one to 15 years in jail.
The Killpacks claimed that this was a treatment recommended by a therapist treating Cassandra for reactive attachment disorder (RAD). At other times, Jeannette bit Cassandra and choked her. When asked whether such actions could have made it difficult for Cassandra to bond with Jeannette, Richard Killpack said that hadn't occurred to him.
U.S. courts tend to treat children as property, returning abused kids to their parents at the slightest sign or remorse or rehabilitation. But Judge Claudia Laycock refused to sentence Killpack to home confinement so she could take care of her four other children. The Deseret News quotes Utah County Deputy Attorney Sherry RaganUtah County Deputy Attorney Sherry Ragan:
"I do not believe she is a good mother," she said. "I believe her children are better off without her at this point. . . . She's a very dangerous person who is a threat to children."
