Chapter 19 - The charges
The criminal case focused on conduct prosecutors could prove.
Drink adulteration.
Assault-related offense.
Evidence interference because she tried to retrieve the glass after exposure.
The exact charging language shifted.
Attempted murder was not the final theory.
No evidence supported a deliberate lethal dose or a plan to kill me.
Vanessa eventually accepted a plea to serious felony-level conduct involving intentionally administering a harmful substance with intent to cause physical impairment or illness, plus an evidence-related offense.
The sentence:
Custodial time measured in years, not decades.
Part suspended under conditions.
Probation afterward.
Treatment.
No contact with me or Lily during the protected period.
The court considered:
No prior criminal record.
Acceptance of responsibility.
The planned nature of the adulteration.
The risk created.
The presence of a child witness.
Her effort to remove evidence.
I gave no dramatic sentencing speech.
My impact statement said:
My daughter should never have had to decide whether her father’s drink was safe.
Then:
May you like
The harm was not only what might have happened to me. It was the responsibility Vanessa placed on a four-year-old when she chose secrecy over an adult conversation.
That was enough.
