Parents Weigh In on LaBrie Case

SALEM, Mass. -- As Lynn Tougas followed the trial of Kristen LaBrie, she could not help thinking about her own bewildering years caring for an autistic son. They were tough times.
When he was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, she had to get help holding him down to give him his medication. And though she and his teachers spent months trying to inoculate his fears, practicing with a syringe that had no needle, he still kicked and screamed when he had his blood drawn.
As LaBrie faces sentencing today in the death of her son, Tougas can sympathize with the depression, overwhelmed feelings, and helplessness LaBrie may have experienced when prosecutors say she withheld life-saving cancer treatments for her son Jeremy.
But Tougas said she cannot forgive LaBrie for letting Jeremy die.

Mom Guilty in Death of Son with Autism

Such a troubling story. Just couldn't ignore it.

LAWRENCE, Mass. -- A Superior Court jury found Kristen A. LaBrie guilty of attempted murder Tuesday for withholding chemotherapy medications from her autistic son, who died of leukemia in 2009.
Prosecutors in the case argued that LaBrie committed murder by withholding potentially lifesaving medications for her 9-year-old son, Jeremy Fraser. The defense admitted that LaBrie knowingly withheld her son's medications, but said she did so only because of their painful side effects.
"It's been a long struggle for everybody including the defendant," Andrew Fraiser, Jeremy's paternal uncle, told reporters outside the courtroom. "It's never a good day to have to go through something like this."