A Massachusetts woman imprisoned for more than 20 years after killing her two-year-old daughter is now pleading for her freedom.
On August 15, 1988, Nancy McGeoghean, then 20 years old, allegedly strangled her two-year-old daughter, Sarah, and smothered her after a night of drinking with friends, according to court documents.
McGeoghean didn't remember a thing, according to the Boston Globe, and woke up that morning to find her daughter unresponsive and blue strapped in a car seat on the living room floor.
A jury found the mother guilty and sentenced her to life in prison.
Pleading: Nancy McGeoghean has been in a state prison for more than 20 years for killing her two-year-old daughter and is now pleasing for her freedom
That was 26 years ago. And now, at 45-years-old, McGeoghean is pleading for her freedom.
Rare in the state, McGeoghean is being given a chance to persuade the Massachusetts Advisory Board of Pardons to recommend that she be eligible for release from the Framingham prison, something that hasn't been done in more than 15 years, according to the Globe.
In the Dec. 29 hearing, McGeoghean spoke about killing her daughter and not remembering committing the crime, even though she initially denied killing her daughter in the 1989 trial.
'I am ashamed of myself. I am disgusted with myself,' McGeoghean reportedly said in the hearing.
'I loved Sarah. She was the only thing in the whole world that was mine.'
McGeoghean earned the rare shot due to her behavior in prison, Board officials said. According to the Globe, McGeoghean trained service dogs and counseled other prisoners during the unusually long sentence.
The decision to recommend is now up to Governor Deval Patrick. If he agrees to the commutation of McGeoghean's sentence, her case will go to the Governor's Council for a vote, the Globe reports.
If the Council votes yes, McGeoghean will be eligible for parole.
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Vote: The decision to recommend McGeoghean for commutation is now in the hands of Governor Deval Patrick (photographed)
However, according to the state's website, a commutation is not forgiveness for the 'underlying offense.'
'It simply means that the period of incarceration served for the offense has been reduced.'
Born to abusive, alcoholic parents, McGeoghean had Sarah at 18 years old and was addicted to drugs and alcohol.
She and Sarah were living in a 'flea-infested' apartment in Cambridge at the time of the murder, according to Patch.
A psychiatrist who examined McGeoghean at the time said she was undergoing withdrawal after heavy use of cocaine and 'just snapped.'
However, court documents state that prosecutors said McGeoghean killed Sarah with 'deliberate premeditation and malice aforethought.'
Court documents also state that McGeoghean 'inflicted cigarette burns on Sarah's chest' in the months before her death.
Though initially McGeoghean said she didn't believe she was capable of killing her own daughter, she said in the hearing that there is 'no other explanation.'
'I believe I killed her,' McGeoghean said.
A board member asked McGeoghean at the hearing why she thinks she did it, according to the Globe. McGeoghean shook her head and cried.
'Not remembering is torture to me,' she replied.
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