MANHATTAN (PIX11/CNN) — A former pharmaceutical executive convicted of killing her 8-year-old son with a lethal drug concoction that caused him to die a slow and painful death in a Manhattan hotel was sentenced Thursday to 18 years behind bars.
“No one – and particularly no child – deserves the type of death that Jude Mirra suffered at the hands of his mother,” District Attorney Cy Vance said. “The poisoning and killing of an 8-year-old boy is a premeditated act of child abuse. After five years, justice has finally been served with today’s sentence of 18 years in state prison.”
Jordan admitted to purposefully ending the life of her son, Jude Mirra, on Feb. 5, 2010. But she portrayed her actions as a mercy killing, saying the boy was physically and sexually abused by his biological father and others. The child had autism and a limited vocabulary.
Providing chilling details of the boy’s final day alive, prosecutors said the slaying was anything but merciful.
“He didn’t die fast,” said assistant district attorney Matt Bogdanos. “One by one, his vital organs shut down. It didn’t take minutes. It took hours to die.”
The businesswoman who made a fortune in pharmaceuticals forced the boy to swallow a cocktail of painkillers and anti-inflammatories, prosecutors said.
Crime scene photos showed bags and bottles of pills strewn across the furniture in a room at the luxury Peninsula Hotel in Manhattan, where the crime took place. It was there that police found the boy’s cold body.
An autopsy revealed four painkillers and anti-inflammatory medications used to kill the 8-year-old were found undigested in his stomach, prosecutors said. Orange juice and vodka were used to wash down the drugs.
Jordan testified that she meant to end her life the same night she killed her son.
She will now serve 18 years in state prison, followed by five years of post-release supervision, prosecutors said.
