For 23 years, Bonnie Liltz loved and cared for her severely disabled daughter, Courtney. Never once did she feel it was a burden, the Schaumburg mother told a Rolling Meadows courtroom Wednesday.
“Every day was a privilege,” Liltz said.
Yet last year, fearing she was dying and that Courtney would be sent to state facility where she would receive substandard care, Liltz fed herself and her 28-year-old daughter a lethal dose of prescription drugs.
“The thought of her living in an institution for the rest of her life was more than I could bear,” said Liltz, testifying at her sentencing hearing Wednesday.
Liltz, originally charged with first-degree murder, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of involuntary manslaughter of a family member earlier this week, but she will have to wait a week before she learns her fate. After an emotional, 40-minute hearing, Cook County Judge Joel Greenblatt said he will announce his sentence May 18.
Cook County prosecutors have recommended Liltz be sentenced to three to four years of probation.
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