Prosecutors won't seek death penalty
Published: Thu, May. 11, 2006 08:58AM
Modified Thu, May. 11, 2006 12:20PM
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closeLynn Paddock, a Johnston County woman accused of killing her 4-year-old adopted son, will not face the death penalty when she goes to trial.
Johnston County District Attorney Tom Lock told a Superior Court judge this morning that his office would pursue first-degree murder charges against Paddock but would not seek to have her put to death.
Sean Paddock, a Wake County boy that Lynn and Johnny Paddock adopted last summer, died Feb. 26 after being wrapped so tightly in blankets he suffocated, according to investigators and the state's chief medical examiner. Sheriff's deputies say the binding was a form of punishment.
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Lock said he would not pursue the death penalty because he did not think Lynn Paddock wrapped her son with the intent of killing him. But the murder charge is justified, he said, because her actions amounted to torture.
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