Judge Rejects DA's Sentence For Rockland Mom Whose Baby Died

NEW CITY, NY — Marie Dorleus, the Spring Valley mother whose 1-year-old died when a box spring fell on him, will spend nine months in the Rockland County Jail.

It's not what the Rockland County District Attorney's Office had proposed. Prosecutors had recommended the judge impose a sentence of 16 months to four years in state prison.

On June 19, Dorleus left her three small children at home alone for several hours. During her absence, a box spring that had been leaned against a wall in the family apartment fell on her youngest, asphyxiating him.

Dorleus pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide in October and was sentenced on Wednesday.

“The loss of a child is an unspeakable tragedy. My office will always give voice to the voiceless and
pursue justice where the facts lead us," DA Thomas Walsh said.