Local News in Brief : Woman, 84, Faces Trial
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An 84-year-old woman charged with murdering her 86-year-old sister will stand trial instead on a lesser count of manslaughter, prosecutors said Friday.
At the conclusion of Edna Lamont’s preliminary hearing Thursday, West Los Angeles Municipal Judge Sherman Smith found that there was insufficient evidence to warrant a murder count against her.
Lamont was arrested March 14 on suspicion of bludgeoning to death her sister, Mary McBride, at the West Los Angeles home they shared. Lamont told police her sister died in a fall, but an autopsy revealed that the victim, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, died as a result of “multiple injuries due to blunt-force trauma.”
Several neighbors said Lamont had a drinking problem and reported seeing her strike or slap McBride, who they said was too disoriented to care for herself.
Lamont, a widowed piano teacher, remains free on bail. If convicted, she could be sentenced to 11 years in state prison.
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