Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court orders new trial for mother convicted of killing two sons
The state's highest court vacated Latarsha Sanders' 2022 murder convictions, citing exclusion of mental-health records and improper evidence, and sent the case back for a retrial.
Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday nullified the murder convictions of Latarsha Sanders and ordered a new trial. Sanders had been found guilty in December 2022 of two counts of first-degree murder for the 2018 killings of her sons, ages eight and five, and sentenced to life without parole. The court ruled that the original trial, presided over by Judge William Sullivan, improperly excluded medical records relating to Sanders' post-arrest mental-health diagnoses, creating a prejudicial error.
"There is no doubt the defendant committed these incomprehensible crimes. The sole issue before a Superior Court jury was whether she lacked criminal responsibility," the court wrote.
The court also rejected the prosecution's suggestion that a television program playing in the home at the time of the investigation was linked to the murders, finding no evidence of such a connection. Sanders' case will be reheard in the Superior Court. Judge Sullivan is currently overseeing the trial of Lindsay Clancy, who faces similar charges and is also expected to raise mental-health defenses.