Trending Topics

WATCH: SC women react to getting life in prison

Two women collapsed in court after receiving life sentences for the death of a 3-year-old girl

Reuters

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Two South Carolina women will spend the rest of their lives in prison for beating a toddler to death in 2009, a sentence that fits their crime, the case’s prosecutor said on Friday.

Erika Mae Butts and Shanita Latrice Cunningham, both 25, each received a life sentence from a Charleston judge on Thursday, two years to the day after 3-year-old Serenity Richardson died while in their care.

They pleaded guilty to the crime in August.

“It is nearly impossible for words to accurately describe what these women did to that poor little girl,” said Elizabeth Gordon, assistant managing solicitor for Charleston County.

Full Story: South Carolina women get life for toddler’s death