Darlene Nicole Brister (Paulding County Sheriff’s Office) and the scene outside the home where she killed her 3 kids (GoFundMe)
A 42-year-old mother in Georgia has escaped the death penalty and will spend the rest of her days behind bars for killing three of her young children, stabbing them to death inside of their family home before setting it on fire. Paulding County Superior Court Judge T. David Lyles last week ordered Darlene Nicole Brister to serve three consecutive sentences of life without the possibility for parole for the 2022 slayings of the little ones, a 9-month-old, a 3-year-old, and a 5-year-old, court records obtained by Law&Crime show.
Brister reached a negotiated plea deal with prosecutors and agreed to plead guilty to three counts of malice murder in her children’s deaths. The deal resulted in counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, arson, and cruelty to children being dismissed against Brister.
Prosecutors in September 2022 had filed paperwork with the court declaring their intention to seek the death penalty against Brister. In the filing, prosecutors set forth numerous “aggravating circumstances” which, if proven, authorized the state to put her to death.
The filing states that Brister committed multiple murders during the commission of other felonies, including aggravated battery and first-degree arson. The state further alleged that the murders “were outrageously, wantonly, vile, horrible, and inhuman” because they “involved torture and depravity of mind.”
District Attorney Matthew Rollins said the decision to file the Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty was not one he “reached lightly,” but said that the facts and circumstances surrounding the case made it appropriate.
