BRUNSWICK COUNTY, Va. -- A Henrico mother was sentenced to serve eight years in prison for the deaths of her newborn twins. Darnesha Berry threw her babies down the trash chute of her fourth-floor dorm at St. Paul’s College in Lawrence, Virginia, back in 1998. Berry was arrested in 2013 after a report by WTVR CBS 6 News senior reporter Wayne Covil highlighted the cold case. She was eventually convicted of involuntary manslaughter and child abuse.
In addition to prison time, the judge ordered Berry to pay a $50,000 fine.
"We were more concerned about her liberty, she can always get money to pay the fine, she can't get the time spent away from her family and friends, so that was more of the focus of what our argument was today," Berry's lawyer Paul Gregorio said.
Berry, now a mother of four, read a letter in court before her sentencing that stated she had been living in her own prison for 17 years and that she knew what she did was wrong.
During their re-investigation of the case, police used feminine hygiene products found inside a trash can outside Berry’s Henrico home as evidence linking her to the crime.
