Barre Mom Pleads Guilty In Deal To Murdering Social Worker, 3 Relatives

BARRE, VT — Barre mother Jody Herring pleaded guilty Thursday to killing a social worker and three relatives whom Herring thought were invovled in her losing custody of her 9-year-old daughter.

Herring appeared in a court near the state office building where she fatally shot social worker Lara Sobel two years ago, pleaded guilty to a first-degree murder count and three second-degree murder counts as part of a plea deal.

Sentencing will be scheduled later, but the plea agreement calls for a sentence of 20 years to life in prison for the second-degree murder convictions. No sentencing has been set for the first-degree murder conviction, though she could be sentenced to life without parole. (For more Across America news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

She was originally charged with three counts of aggravated murder in the deaths of her relatives.

Defense attorney David Sleigh said Herring avoids a potential aggravated murder conviction, which carries a mandatory sentence of life without parole.

"So we have an opportunity to argue for a sentence that would allow her to be released on parole at some point," Sleigh said.

John Treadwell, an assistant attorney general, said the certainty of guilt in the plea agreement is of substantial value to the state, the victims and the community at large.

"The state believes that this is a fair and just resolution of the pending charges in this matter," he said. "In exchange for taking the mandatory life without parole sentence under aggravated murder off the table the state obtains four murder convictions and retains the possibility of seeking and retaining a life without parole sentence at the sentencing hearing."

Herring, 42, admitted shooting Sobel as Sobel left work on Aug. 7, 2015. She also admitted shooting cousins Regina Herring and Rhonda Herring, and her aunt Julie Falzarano at their home in Berlin, Vermont, earlier that day. Police said she believed her relatives had reported her to the Department for Children and Families.

Police said Herring shot Sobel twice with a hunting rifle outside an office of the state Department for Children and Families in Barre as Sobel, a 14-year employee at the agency, left work. Herring was tackled by bystanders and then arrested.

The next day, police were called to a home in the neighboring town of Berlin where they found the bodies of Herring's relatives.

Herring's competency has been an issue since the crime.

In the written plea agreement, Herring said that she has suffered from "significant mental health disease" over the course of her life but is not now.

By Lisa Rathke, The Associated Press

Photos credit: Toby Talbot/Times Argus via AP; Stefan Hard/The Times Argus via AP