Posted on 05/07/2003 10:45:43 AM PDT by chance33_98
Parental Rights Ended For Mom Convicted In Toilet-Training Death
POSTED: 12:01 p.m. EDT May 7, 2003
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- A judge in Illinois says he knows it seems harsh -- but the law must prevail.
He has stripped a woman of parental ties to her 2-year-old son. Sheryl Hardy was convicted 14 years ago of watching as her then-husband killed another son by ramming his head into a toilet -- as punishment for the boy soiling his pants.
The judge says Illinois law doesn't allow people convicted of killing their child to show they are now fit parents -- no matter how long it's been.
He had ruled two years ago that Hardy could have custody of the boy -- but decided to rehear the case last summer, after an appeals court found her to be unfit.
After the 1989 killing, Hardy had been forced to give up her two other daughters for adoption. Her current husband has said he wants to raise the boy.
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