RSS Electronic Edition | Newsletters Subscribe | Customer Service/Contact Us | Community Buy Photos Modmomsclub

Local

Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

No contest plea in Modesto heroin death

E-Mail Print reprint or license

A 53-year-old mother accused of giving her daughter a lethal dose of heroin pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter Thursday in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

Evelyn White originally faced trial on a charge of murder but took a plea deal that includes a six-year prison sentence.

White was accused of giving the drug to her 30-year-old daughter, who had used the drug only once -- three days before her death Oct. 20, 2006.

While Yvonne Cota-Cecil ingested the heroin, White went into the bathroom, also to use heroin. Police said White came out of the bathroom and found her daughter having difficulty breathing.

Authorities found Cota-Cecil unresponsive at her north Modesto duplex apartment shortly after 4 a.m.

She was taken by ambulance to Doctors Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Cota-Cecil's 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son were asleep in the apartment at the time, police said.

Bee staff writer Merrill Balassone can be reached at mbalassone@modbee.com or 578-2337.