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Woman Sentenced To 20-40 Years For 3-Year-Old Daughter's Death

PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) - A woman convicted of third-degree murder in the death of her 3-year-old daughter, whose body was found in a ravine, was sentenced Tuesday.

Judge Anthony Mariani sentenced 27-year-old Adriene Williams to 20-40 years in prison in the death of little Adrionna Williams.

"That's what she deserved," Sonya Crosby, Adrionna's grandmother, said after the sentencing. "I'm paying the maximum 'cause I have to go through the rest of my life looking at my little pink urn."

Adriene Williams spoke briefly to the court and still maintained her innocence.

The defense attorney and a forensic psychologist told the judge that Williams was an adopted child who was abused most of her life, and she was suffering from severe mental illness.

But Judge Mariani told Williams she took her child out of safety, put her in harm's way, then suffocated her.

adrionna-williams-urn
(Photo Credit: KDKA)

"This is Adrionna," Crosby said, holding a small pink urn with a teddy bear on it. "This is her. This is what I have left."

An Allegheny County jury convicted Williams of third-degree murder in August.

Prosecutors contend the Wilkinsburg woman somehow asphyxiated Adrionna - they never said where or how - before leaving the girl's body in a wooded area of Swissvale in June 2015.

Williams' attorney argued the failure to pinpoint exactly where and how the girl died meant Williams shouldn't be convicted.

But prosecutors say surveillance video and cellphone records show Williams drove to and from the area where the girl's body was found despite claiming she drove to work in a different area while the girl was at her grandmother's house.

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(TM and © Copyright 2017 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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