A 44-year-old Arkansas woman charged with stabbing her 16-year-old son to death appeared during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
Rebecca Lynn Henley pled guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Henley had initially been charged with first-degree murder. She has been an inmate in the Baxter County jail since March 21 last year with bond set at $500,000.
At one point during the sentencing process, Circuit Judge John Putman asked Henley, “why did you do this?” Henley said there was no one reason.
Immediately before sentencing, Judge Putman asked Henley if she had anything she wanted to say. She replied, “no.”
According to electronic court information, Henley called 911 just before 11 p.m. March 20 last year and reported a stabbing at her address along Walker Street.
She is alleged to have told the dispatcher that she “just woke up and stabbed” her son. In a post-Miranda interview, she told police she had to kill the teenager “for righteousness, to save everybody.”
During a court session earlier this year, Henley was expected to take a plea in the case, but told the court, “she would never admit to knowingly killing her son.”
Through tears she said she did not believe she had committed the act. Judge Putman said he would not accept the plea under those circumstances.
During the session Monday, after Deputy Prosecutor Kerry Chism read from the probable cause affidavit, Judge Putman asked if Henley had done the acts described in the affidavit. She replied, “yes.”
A younger son was not injured. He was reported to have been taken in by family members.
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