May 19, 2013
A judge has accepted a plea deal that will avoid trial and a possible death sentence for a 73 year old German grandmother.
Marianna Bordt appeared in a Franklin County courtroom in Apalachicola to accept the deal that will send her to prison for the next 21 and a half years.
Bordt drowned her 5-year-old grandson, Camden Hiers, in the bathtub of a St. George Island rental property in January 2010. Bordt's daughter had divorced Camden's father and Bordt told investigators she didn't want the boy growing up in a broken home.
Investigators originally charged her with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse, and had planned to seek the death penalty. Her lawyers were preparing an insanity defense for her October trial, claiming she suffered head trauma during a Russian bombing raid on her hometown during World War II.
During Monday's hearing, Bordt pled guilty to second degree murder and the state dropped the child abuse charge.
Bordt will have to serve at least 85% of the 21-and-a-half years, making her 90, before she'd be eligible for parole.
