FARMINGTON — Twice accused of trying to kill her two children, Reggie Ann Peck pleaded for probation in 2nd District Court on Wednesday.
But an emotional plea to the judge and one from her mother wasn’t enough to spare her prison time.
The 36-year-old North Logan woman was sentenced to up to 15 years in Utah State Prison on two second-degree felony charges of trying to harm her two toddlers.
Judge David R. Hamilton sentenced Peck on each felony count to serve one to 15 years in Utah State Prison concurrently.
On Aug. 30, Davis County sheriff’s deputies found Peck and her two children inside her locked Dodge Durango in South Weber after residents reported a suspicious vehicle parked next to the canal.
According to the probable cause statement, Peck had “administered prescription controlled substances to her two children in an effort to sedate them to a level of unconsciousness.”
When deputies arrived, Peck had already cut the wrist of one of her daughters and held a blade to a daughter’s throat.
Police had been looking for Peck after she failed to return the children to their father in Bountiful the previous night.
Court records show Peck suffers from bipolar disorder and the incident was the second time she tried to harm her daughters by first sedating them.
Peck and her attorney, Tood Utzinger, asked for probation on the basis that Peck’s behavior with her children could likely be attributed to her not taking her medication and that, when she does take her medication, she’s a different person than the one found by sheriff’s deputies that night in August.
Peck had been a student body officer in junior high school, done work for the deaf and blind, and received a master’s degree before the two incidents with her children.
“She had been an exemplary citizen before mental health issues began taking control of her life,” Utzinger said. “She is a person who is salvageable.”
Utzinger suggested as part of the possible probation, Peck report to a facility to receive her medication and be monitored.
Deputy Davis County Attorney Richard Larsen said Peck was still ultimately responsible for what she did to her children and that if she decided to quit taking her medication while on probation, it would be impossible to account for what could happen between the time she stopped taking it and when she would be apprehended again.
“While she was on her medication, she made the decision to stop taking her medication,” Larsen said.
In court, Peck tearfully apologized to her family.
“I do take full responsibility for what has happened,” she said. “I apologize to everyone I’ve hurt — mainly to my children.”
Comments