A Georgia woman convicted of… killing her 20-month-old son and dumping his body in a garbage can was sentenced to life in prison Thursday.
Leilani Simon was spared the maximum sentence of life, without the possibility of parole. Her sentencing hearing in Chatham County Superior Court came a month after a jury found Simon guilty of malice murder and eighteen other charges in connection with the death of her son, Quinton Simon.
Simon called 911 the morning of October 5, 2022, to report her son was missing from his playpen in their home outside Savannah. After police searched the home and surrounding neighborhood for days, Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley said investigators believed the child was dead. He also named Simon as the only suspect.
Police and FBI agents focused their investigation on a landfill two weeks after the boy was reported missing. They searched through the trash for over a month before finding human bones, which DNA testing confirmed were Quinton’s.
Murder carries an automatic life sentence under Georgian law. Because prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, the key decision for Judge Tammy Stokes was whether to give Simon a chance to one day be released on parole. The judge imposed an additional ten years in prison for concealing the child’s death.
During Thursday’s sentencing hearing, prosecutors emphasized that Simon had not taken responsibility, CBS affiliate WTOC-TV reported.
“She doesn’t seem sorry at all. She really doesn’t seem sorry that she got caught. She seems sorry that she had to stand trial,” said Special Assistant District Attorney Tim Dean.
During the hearing, the lead detective on the case, Marian Lemmons, revealed new details that were not included in the trial, the station reported. Lemmons said Simon was engaging innocent people and drinking the night investigators announced the search for Quinton’s body at the landfill.
Simon did not testify at her sentencing hearing. She did speak to give the judge permission to release her son’s remains to her family. Authorities had kept them in case further forensic tests were ordered.
“My son has been through enough,” Simon said. “I want my baby at home.”
