Mom Pleads Guilty To 1992 Baltimore Fire That Killed 6 Kids: Reports

BALTIMORE, MD — A woman awaiting trial on arson and murder charges pleaded guilty this week to killing her six children in a 1992 house fire in Baltimore, according to multiple reports.

Tonya Lucas, 59, of Northwest Baltimore, pleaded guilty to one count of arson and six counts of first-degree murder after accepting a plea agreement this week, the Baltimore Banner reported. Lucas previously was sentenced to life in prison after a jury found her guilty of six counts of murder in 1993, according to reports; however, a new trial was ordered in 2015 after prosecutors admitted her conviction hung on since-discredited evidence.

The plea deal allowed Lucas to avoid a fifth trial after trials in 2017 and 2019 ended with hung juries, according to the Banner.

A judge sentenced Lucas to life in prison, suspending all but time served, the Baltimore Sun reported. She was also sentenced to five years probation.

In opening statements during Lucas' 1993 trial, prosecutors said Lucas was facing eviction after spending her welfare check on drugs, according to a Washington Post report. She then set fire to her east Baltimore home, hoping the Red Cross would provide her with new housing, furniture and clothing.

Lucas, her boyfriend and her 8-year-old son escaped the blaze, the Post reported. Her other six children, ranging from 2 months to 12 years old, died of smoke inhalation.

"This is without a doubt, in our opinion, one of the worst crimes committed in the history of the city of Baltimore because we not only have six dead people, but we have six dead children who could do nothing to ward off the abuse and neglect inflicted on them by this defendant," Jack Lessler, the prosecutor at Lucas' first trial, said at her sentencing in 1993, according to the Sun.

In a statement obtained by the Banner, Lucas' attorney said this week's plea agreement allowed Lucas to avoid the "emotional and physical toll" of a fifth trial. Lucas is currently battling metastatic breast cancer, her attorney said.

Family members reportedly supported the plea deal.

"The family felt as though she had served time for the crime," a spokesman for Baltimore State's Attorney Ivan Bates told the Sun. "They told her they forgave her but that they did not forget. But they also talked about their need for closure."