TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) — A Kansas mother whose 2-year-old son shot and killed his 4-year-old sister has been sentenced to life in prison.

Mariann Belair, 24, will not be eligible for parole until she serves the 25 years of her sentence imposed Tuesday in Shawnee County District Court, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. Jurors found her guilty of aggravated child endangerment and first-degree murder in May.

Belair testified at her trial that in October, while at home with her four-year-old daughter, Lawrencia Perez-Belair, her two-year-old son and her one-year-old daughter, she took a loaded 9 mm handgun from her diaper bag and placed it on the couch next to her.

She said she had planned to get food with her family and made sure she had everything she needed in her bag. She said Lawrencia then “distracted” her by asking her to take a cellphone photo of them together.

Assistant District Attorney Lauren Amrein told jurors that the gun had been on the couch for at least 12 minutes before Belair’s son, who had just turned 3, picked it up and shot his sister. She said no reasonable person would have left the gun there for that long if young children were present.

Court records show that Belair complained in a handwritten motion that her trial attorney had advised her against taking a plea deal that would have resulted in her being sentenced to 10 years and three months in prison.

A new attorney assigned to the case has requested a retrial.

The Associated Press