Delco mother pleads to killing infant son

A Delaware County mother has told a judge she just wanted to start her punishment and pleaded guilty to murdering her infant son.

Amy Beyers, 29, of Ridley Park, was sentenced Tuesday to 15 to 30 years plus five years probation in a negotiated plea, according to the district attorney's office.

In June, Beyers was found unconscious, lying in a blood-soaked bed of her Sixth Avenue home next to her 7-month-old son, Robert Beyers. A handwritten note indicating her wish to take her own life and that of her son was found nearby on the baby's changing table. Robert was pronounced dead at Taylor Hospital; the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide.

Beyers, who had slit her wrists, was taken to Crozer-Chester Medical Center. Police said she was suffering from depression. Prosecutors said she was addicted to prescription drugs at the time of the murder.

Had Beyers opted for a third-degree murder plea, prosecutors said she might have faced as little as six years.

Prosecutor Joseph P. Lesniak said while it was hard not to feel compassion for Beyers, it did not negate the fact she took an innocent life.

"The fact she has to live with this guilt is punishment as well," Lesniak said. "You could tell this was really affecting her as a human being."