Step-mother pleads guilty to beating death

05:29 PM PST on Wednesday, March 23, 2005

By PAT McREYNOLDS / KING 5 News

A Lake Stevens, Wash. 25-year-old pleaded guilty Wednesday to beating her stepdaughter to death two months ago.

Heather Ewell is expected to be sentenced to a maximum of 8 1/2 years in prison. In the meantime, she was released without bail.

Prosecutors had asked for $75,000 bail, but the judge freed Ewell without bail until her sentencing partially on the belief that the victim's biological mother -- who is already in prison on an unrelated crime -- could seek or arrange an attack on Ewell behind bars.

Ewell fractured Sotelo's skull and lacerated her liver when she beat her Jan. 21.

She first told authorities the young girl had somehow swallowed cleaning solvent, but later recanted.

Several of Sotelo's former foster parents attended the arraignment and were livid at what they see as a light sentence for Ewell.

KING

Heather Ewell pleaded guilty to beating to death four-year-old Sirita Sotelo.

"I'm appalled. I think in Snohomish County, you can get away with murder," said James, one of Sotelo's former foster parents.

But after the guilty plea, Ewell's stepmother and grandmother said the death was a horrible mistake.

"She treated Sirita just like she treated the other kids. She loves them I know a lot of people who don't think so but I am in that home every day and they love her," said Georgeann Buoy, Ewell's mother in law.

"It was an accident, a horrible accident. Heather would never hurt a person on purpose, that I can tell you," said Bonnie Swinney, Ewell's grandmother.

But Gary -- another of Sotelo's foster parents -- is channeling his anger by lobbying to change laws so crimes like these never happen again.

"I wanted to think that this was somehow just some kind of terrible accident, but those injuries, I'm sorry. "We've got to do something. They don't wind up in foster care because they have perfect parents. There's something dysfunctional going on and putting them back in the place where something bad happened usually means putting the child at risk."

The law Gary is proposing -- dubbed Sirita's Law -- would limit the amount of time that biological parents have to get off drugs before they would lose the right to their children. It would also create a kind of "three strikes" law for neglect and abuse before parents would forfeit the rights to thier children.

The bill has passed the state House and is now before a committee in the Senate.