A Fairfax County, Virginia, jury on Monday recommended a sentence of 78 years in prison, for the woman convicted of shooting and killing of her two daughters at their McLean home in 2018.
Veronica Youngblood was convicted of two counts of first degree murder, and two counts of felony firearm use on Wednesday.
Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy Bellows has the final say in handing down Youngblood’s sentence.
In the trial, Youngblood’s public defenders said she was not guilty by reason of insanity. They said Youngblood was hearing voices that had told her to kill her daughters, 15-year-old Sharon Castro and 5-year-old Brooklynn.
The defense said her actions were the result of years of Youngblood enduring physical and sexual abuse. The jury rejected the defense’s argument Wednesday.
Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said that it has been an “emotional and grueling trial,” and was “gratifying” that the jury gave out the sentence, which reflected the “seriousness of the charge.”
“We have two little girls whose lives should still be ahead of them, whose lives were cut short by the person that they were supposed to trust the most in the world, which is their mother,” Descano said.
Youngblood had never denied killing her daughters. During the trial, jurors were shown a videotaped interview with investigators, hours after the killings, when she acknowledged she was guilty and said she deserved the death penalty.
Jurors also heard the 911 call from Youngblood’s older daughter, begging for help after telling the dispatcher her mother had shot her.
“For people who aren’t used to this, like our juries, it must have been incredibly, incredibly difficult for them,” said Descano. “Not only making it through the trial, but doing their duty and really showing how slowly they deliberated by taking so long to come up to these outcomes.”
Prosecutors portrayed Youngblood as a selfish, calculating woman who was angry at her ex-husband for his plans to move to Missouri with Brooklynn. Prosecutors said Youngblood bought a handgun nine days before the shootings, for the specific purpose of killing her daughters and herself, and gave the children sleeping pill gummies so they would be defenseless when she shot them.
Descano said, after the verdict was announced, that his message for parents is to take care of their children.
“Anybody who has a kid knows that their child is the number one thing in their life. This crime was so poor, because it went completely against that. I can’t even imagine harming my daughter, and I know parents can’t imagine harming their children,” he said.
