Fifty-three-year-old Penny Kochel said before her sentencing Friday in Berks County Court that she wishes she'd have died instead of 14-month-old Leanna McEntee.
Leanna died of a lethal dose of morphine at Kochel's Heidelberg Township home in May 2009. Kochel pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
Kochel initially claimed she gave the baby a teething tablet and rubbed tequila on her gums to numb the pain. Toxicology tests showed the baby had morphine in her system.
Defense attorney James Polyak said his client had morphine because she was caring for her ill brother, who died two weeks after Leanna.
