Mother gets 5 years for blaze that killed her 2 children

QUINCY, Ill. (AP) - A judge has sentenced a western Illinois woman to five years in prison for an October fire that killed her 8-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter.

The Quincy Herald-Whig reports an Adams County judge Tuesday accepted a guilty plea from 34-year-old Marilyn K. Kramer of Quincy to one count of endangering the life and health of a child.

The plea was part of an agreement with prosecutors, who said if the case had gone to trial the evidence would show hand-spliced electrical cords were used to power the home. Prosecutors say one of those cords caught fire under a mattress, resulting in the blaze that killed Toby Brewer and Emma Kramer.

Toby Brewer's father, William G. Brewer, pleaded guilty last week to the same charge and also was sentenced to five years in prison.

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Information from: The Quincy Herald-Whig, http://www.whig.com