A Bristow woman pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child neglect charges for leaving her young son in a hot van last summer, killing the toddler.
Karen Murphy, 40, was sentenced to six years probation as part of the plea agreement, entered Monday in Prince William County Circuit Court.
The agreement also calls for a two-year suspended prison sentence, which means she won’t serve time as long as she follows the conditions of her probation.
The plea came the morning Murphy was scheduled to stand trial for the June 17 death of 2-year-old Ryan.
Murphy admitted that she forgot to drop the boy off at daycare, leaving him in her van while she went to work at a veterinary hospital. When she found him after driving home seven hours later, he was dead.
Murphy wept in court as she pleaded guilty before Judge William Hamblen.
“Are you entering these pleas of guilty because you are in fact guilty of these offenses?” Hamblen asked.
“Yes, sir,” Murphy said through tears, her voice barely above a whisper.
Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert, who originally filed a felony murder charge against Murphy, said he agreed to the deal because he didn’t think justice would be served by sending her to prison.
“I don’t think the law can punish her more than she’s already been punished,” he said. Murphy could have faced five to 40 years in prison if she had been convicted of felony murder.
Ebert also said a felony conviction would bar Murphy from practicing veterinary medicine; her plea agreement also calls for her to perform 400 hours of community service at the county’s animal shelter.
“What a felony conviction would do to her, I didn’t feel was just,” he said.
