BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A Palm Bay woman who killed her three children will spend the rest of her life in prison after pleading guilty Thursday to three counts of murder.
Jessica McCarty, 33, was charged with three counts of first-degree premeditated murder in the deaths of her three children, 5-month-old Christopher Swist, Phillip McCarty, 6, and Lacey McCarty, 7, at their Kenmore Street home.
In March, McCarty called 911 and told a dispatcher she had killed her children and slit her wrists. She later told a detective she wished she had finished the job. She had a previous suicide attempt.
McCarty's two sons were found with cords around their necks and it appeared that her daughter was drowned in a bathtub, according to investigators' documents.
In court Thursday her mother, Patricia Null, told the judge that her daughter was failed by the mental health system.
"I don't know what happened on that fateful day in March. You don't know either, but more importantly, Jessica does not know. She is grieving for her children as much as we are," Null said.
Prosecutors told Channel 9 that McCarty's mental health issue was a mitigating factor in the case.
"The crime was monstrous and the issue for us is whether or not the defendant was a monster, and what we were able to determine is that she may not be a monster," assistant state attorney Bill Respess said.
Prosecutors said they also considered law enforcement and the children's fathers who felt life in prison was an appropriate punishment for McCarty, who could have faced the death penalty if convicted at trial.
"These are families that need time to heal and hopefully whatever healing they can get will start today," defense attorney Michael Pirolo said.