Mother held in neglect deaths of boys pleads not guilty

Wed., Dec. 1, 2004

Associated Press

KENT, Wash. – A 36-year-old Kent woman accused of letting two of her children starve to death as she lay passed out drunk pleaded not guilty Tuesday.

Marie Genevieve Robinson entered the pleas at King County’s Regional Justice Center to charges of second-degree murder and criminal mistreatment in the deaths of her two youngest sons, 16-month-old Justice and 7-week-old Raiden.

She was passed out drunk, lying in bed with the covers over her head, when police entered her apartment and found the bodies Nov. 14, prosecutors said. A 2-year-old boy who survived by foraging in the kitchen helped police get the door open.

Her attorney, Colleen O’Connor, said after the hearing that Robinson “kind of understands” the charges against her, “but she’s still grieving.”

Bail remained set at $2 million.

Robinson’s 2-year-old was released to a grandmother’s custody after paramedics checked him out.

The deaths were discovered after Christopher Bone, Robinson’s boyfriend and the children’s father, was released from the Kitsap County Jail in Port Orchard, where he had been held for missing court dates.

When he knocked on the door of the apartment in this south Seattle suburb and got no response, he called police, telling them he had been trying to contact Robinson by telephone for 10 days.

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