PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. – More than five years ago, a 30-year-old Florida mother was accused of killing her 5-month-old son after he suffered head trauma while she was angry during a phone call with his father.
In 2019, baby Mason suffered a traumatic brain injury at his home in Palm Harbor and died about four days later in the hospital, according to Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office deputies.
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County prosecutors charged Burgandie Marquez with first-degree murder and announced they were preparing to seek the death penalty. Her trial was set for September, but she recently accepted a plea deal.
County court records show there was a pre-trial hearing on March 5 and Marquez, who was born in Illinois, changed her plea to guilty for second-degree murder before Circuit County Judge Philip J. Federico.
A four-page judgment ended the case. Marquez, 35, was sentenced to 45 years in prison with credit for time served. She has been in jail since her arrest on Sept. 28, 2019.
The Tampa Bay Times followed the case and was the first to report the plea deal on Friday adding that the case had “raised questions at the Department of Children and Families about whether more could have been done to protect Mason, who was exposed to drugs in the womb by a mother who had a known history of mental health and drug abuse.”