LILBURN, Ga., March 14 (UPI) -- A Georgia woman was sentenced to 30 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to charges related to the deaths of three of her children in a meth lab fire.
Neibi Brito, 24, pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of voluntary manslaughter, drug trafficking, manufacturing meth and having children present during the manufacturing of meth and was sentenced to 30 years in prison plus 20 years on probation and a $1.3 million fine, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
On Feb. 17, 2011, a meth lab at Brito's home in Lilburn caught fire, killing three of her children -- 21-month-old Stacy Brito, Jose Ivan Guevara, 3, and Isaac Guevara, 4. The children were rescued from the fire and brought to a hospital, but they died later because of smoke and soot inhalation. The boys suffered burns to over 60 percent of their bodies, while their younger sister sustained burns to more than 75 percent of her body.
Brito gave birth to her surviving child while incarcerated.
"I understand that we all make mistakes," Brito said in court before she was sentenced. "I was 22 at that time. Now I know better."
Brito's co-defendant, Joseph Alexander Perez, 32, pleaded guilty to the same charges and received an identical sentence. Prosecutors said Perez did not live at Brito's home, but was at the house when the fire broke out
"I'm just sorry," Perez said in court.
Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Melodie Snell Conner said: "There is nothing good to say about this case because these three little babies just didn't deserve that. Anybody that thinks drugs don't kill just needs to take a brief look at this case."
