Peters pleads to charges preceding son's death
The mother of a 4-year-old boy, who police say died as a result of injuries suffered in a sexual assault last year, pleaded guilty in Butler County Court Tuesday to charges related to injuries the boy suffered before the incident that resulted in his death.
Mackenzie P. Peters, 22, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of children before Judge Thomas Doerr.
She was initially charged with felony counts of the same charge, which were reduced to misdemeanors as part of the plea.
Following the proceeding, her attorney, Joseph Kecskemethy, said the charges were reduced because the incident was isolated, and felony counts of child endangerment require a “course of conduct.”
“She entered the appropriate plea when the appropriate offer was made,” he said.
The plea agreement calls for a sentence of 36 months' probation total — 18 months on each count — and the payment of fines. Peters will also be ordered to undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation and submit to any recommended treatment.
Peters is scheduled for sentencing May 3. She remains free on $25,000 unsecured bail, according to court documents.
She was arrested and charged days after the Butler Township Police Department filed first-degree homicide, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with serious bodily injury, rape of a child with serious bodily injury and other charges against her boyfriend, Keith Jordan Lambing, 21, of Butler, in connection with the death of her son, Bentley Thomas Miller, on March 21.
Lambing continues to be held in the Butler County Prison after bail was denied.
Police say the boy was sexually assaulted in a room at the Super 8 motel on Pittsburgh Road in Butler Township by Lambing. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Lambing.
The charges against Peters specifically deal with an injury Bentley allegedly suffered — a severe burn to his hand — while in Lambing's care and several days before his death. Police allege that Peters knew of the injury and failed to seek medical treatment for her son.
The second charge alleges that an 18-month-old child was also in the hotel room and in the presence of drug paraphernalia.
Investigators have said that Peters and Lambing had been staying at the motel for four to six days before Bentley's death. Lambing is alleged to have assaulted Bentley in the room after Peters left for work on the morning of March 21.
Kecskemethy said he has “heard no indication that she will be called as a witness” in Lambing's case, as Peters wasn't present at the time of Bentley's death and “has no direct knowledge” of what occurred.
“She has always directly addressed and acknowledged the mistakes she made since the allegations came up in this case,” he said. “From the beginning she admitted those to the police and cooperated with law enforcement. Every day since then she has been treating appropriately for addiction and her emotional issues and working hard to make sure she doesn't get into situations like this again.”
He told the court Tuesday that there was a pending Department of Public Welfare investigation, which was initiated by ChildLine, the state's child abuse hotline, alleging abuse of the two children.
He said an appeal to that investigation would be withdrawn in response to Peters' plea Tuesday.
Butler County Children and Youth officials confirmed that they had investigated both Peters and Lambing in direct relation to this incident, as well as secondary incidents.
“This is not a bad kid,” Kecskemethy said. “She is a regular person from a good Butler family who got way in over her head in the world of addiction and bad decisions connected with it. The best evidence of that is that she has always acknowledged her own responsibility for the lack of care for her children and admitted what she admitted today as well.”
Lambing's mother, Kristen L. Herold, 43, of Butler, is also charged in the case. Police say she helped Lambing elude police in the aftermath of Bentley's death, and provided transportation to him while he was wanted for police questioning.
She continues to be held in the Butler County Prison on $200,000 bail.
Peters and county prosecutor Terri Schultz declined to comment following the plea.
