San Diego girl, 16, faces 16 years to life for killing adoptive mother with claw hammer
By APWednesday, January 27, 2010
San Diego teen to be sentenced for killing mother
SAN DIEGO — A San Diego teen who acknowledged beating her adoptive mother to death with a claw hammer when she was 14 is scheduled to be sentenced for murder.
Sixteen-year-old Heather Marie D’Aoust faces 16 years to life in prison when she appears in Superior Court on Wednesday.
Prosecutors say D’Aoust has serious psychological problems and struck her adoptive mother at least 15 times with the hammer in the kitchen of their Scripps Ranch home in May 2008.
Fifty-six-year-old Rebecca D’Aoust died at a hospital.
The girl had argued with her mother a day earlier. An FBI agent testified that the teen’s cell phone had a text message about her plans to kill her mother.
The teen pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon.
