Des Plaines woman sentenced to 10 years in death of grandmother
In an emotional hearing that split family members crowded into a courtroom, a Des Plaines woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison after she pleaded guilty Thursday to aggravated domestic battery in the death of her grandmother in 2013.
Lynn Bingaman, 35, accepted a plea deal on the lesser felony charge, though at one time she faced a first-degree murder charge.
Prosecutors say Bingaman shoved her 83-year-old grandmother Betty Knaack to the ground during an argument on Sept. 30, 2013, causing her to strike her head on a chair. Knaack died three days later from blunt head trauma due to an assault, the Cook County medical examiner ruled.
Bingaman went to her grandmother's house on the 2800 block of Eisenhower Drive in Des Plaines to pick up her 2-year-old child. She got into an argument with her mother, Susan Searls, who lived with Knaack, because Bingaman wanted to use the computer, prosecutors said.
Bingaman was walking toward the door of the home when Knaack stood up from a chair and tried to calm Bingaman. But prosecutors say she pushed Knaack, causing her to fall and hit her head on the wooden chair, prosecutors said.
Bingaman then punched her mother four times in the face, they said.
She later told police in an interview that her grandmother "got in my face."
Knaack, lying on the floor, was conscious when paramedics arrived, and was taken to a hospital for treatment. But she became paralyzed and died Oct. 3, 2013.
Appearing in a blue jump suit at the Skokie courthouse Thursday, Bingaman addressed the judge and some 20 family members who gathered for the sentencing hearing.
"I'm really extremely sorry for what I did. … I did not mean to kill Grandma," said Bingaman, before breaking down in tears and taking her seat next to her public defender.
Searls, in a statement to the court read by her pastor, said she hopes her daughter "realizes the pain and suffering she caused."
"Maybe she will earn the forgiveness of all who have suffered from her actions," she wrote.
Assistant State's Attorney Michele Gemskie read a victims' impact statement on behalf of Knaack's three other daughters, who brought with them a poster board of photos of their mother before and after her injuries.
"One (photo) is how they'd like to remember their mother, and the last is a photo they unfortunately have to remember her by," Gemskie said.
The sisters wrote that Knaack was the "tie" that held the family together, hosting Easter egg hunts, Thanksgiving dinners and other family get-togethers - but that's since been lost. They also wrote how difficult it has been to know their mother died "because of one act of rage on your part."
"We don't understand how you could have done what you did to her after everything she had done for you," their statement said.
Outside of court, Carol Morgan, one of Knaack's daughters, said she believed Bingaman's sentence should have been steeper.
"We're unhappy with the outcome," she said. "It's not enough."
Bingaman is required to serve at least 8½ years of the 10-year sentence. Prosecutors say she also must serve at least half of a separate 3-year sentence she is due to receive on charges of aggravated battery of a corrections officer in April 2014.
She has been in prison since her October 2013 arrest.