by the Associated Press:
The Kansas Supreme Court has denied a 37-year-old Kansas woman’s appeal of her conviction for killing her son.
Lindsey Blansett was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the December 2014 death of her son, Caleb, in Wellington. Prosecutors said she beat him with a rock and stabbed him to death. She was given a Hard 25 sentence.
Prosecutors argued during Blansett’s trial that she killed her son to spare him from suffering. Her defense argued she was mentally ill at the time and believed people were coming to her house to hurt Caleb.
Blansett’s appeal argued jury instructions not to consider her mental illness were erroneous.
The state Supreme Court said the instructions didn’t prevent the jury from considering how Blansett’s mental illness affected her ability to premeditate the crime.
