MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) – A Long Island woman who killed her 8-year-old disabled daughter on the day she was to be a flower girl was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison.
Veronica Cirella, 34, pleaded guilty in May to manslaughter in the July 2011 death of Julie Cirella. The girl, who had cerebral palsy and was in a wheelchair, died on the day she was to participate in a relative’s wedding.
“The facts of this case are particularly heinous,” Assistant Nassau County District Attorney Jessica Cepriano said in court. “The defendant has admitted to intentionally hurting her own child. … She was immobile and completely defenseless and the one person, the one person in this world that should have protected her killed her.”
Authorities initially said Julie died after being given M&Ms by her mother, who knew the child had a peanut allergy. An autopsy found the child died of asphyxiation, but no peanuts were found in her system.
Cirella declined to speak at her sentencing.