A jury found a local mother guilty yesterday of killing her 4-year-old daughter with a lethal dose of prescription drugs in 2006.
Carolyn Riley, 35, was convicted and was sentenced to life in prison with the eligibility for parole after 15 years. Her daughter, Rebecca, required medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and bipolar disorder.
Reports indicated Riley showed little emotion in court yesterday until she passed her weeping mother. Other family members and the woman who adopted Rebecca’s older sister also offered emotional testimony throughout the trial.
“Today we have a small measure of justice for Rebecca Riley,” Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz said outside the courthouse, according to The Boston Globe.
Jurors in the Plymouth Superior Court case began deliberating on Friday and ultimately opted for a second-degree murder charge over first-degree murder.
Prosecutors argued that Carolyn Riley schemed to use the girl’s illness to collect disability checks and improperly medicated her daughter.
The girl was found dead on her parent’s bedroom floor in Hull on Dec. 13, 2006.