CLOSE Lacey Spears listens April 8, 2015, at the Westchester County Courthouse as Judge Robert Neary sentences her to 20 years to life in the killing of her son Garnet Spears. lohud, file 
 
 She declines to address court before sentence handed down 
 
 Buy Photo Lacey Spears during her sentencing Wednesday, April 8, 2015. (Photo: The Journal News/file)Buy Photo Story Highlights Defense already planning appeal of verdict 
 
 Her lawyers seek 15-year sentence 
 
 Prosecutors asked for maximum sentence, 25 years to life 
 
 A judge sentenced Lacey Spears on Wednesday to 20 years to life in prison for poisoning her 5-year-old son to death with salt, saying she subjected the boy to a life of "torment and pain." 
 
 Acting state Supreme Court Justice Robert Neary said he did not impose the maximum because he was convinced Spears suffered from Munchausen by proxy, a rare syndrome in which a caregiver injures someone to seek attention. 
 
 "In many respects your crime is unfathomable in its cruelty, it gives rise to many questions I quite frankly don't have answers for," he told Spears in a courtroom packed with more than 45 people. "This was not a spontaneous or ill-conceived solitary act. It was a serious and orchestrated series of actions that really shock the conscience." 
 
 But Neary also said he hoped Spears would come to terms with her condition as she served her time, and that public awareness and public reporting of such cases increase because of the case. Spears said only, "No, sir," when the judge asked whether she had anything to say before she was sentenced. 
 
 Spears, who wore a gray suit and stood between her two lawyers, displayed no emotion when the sentence was handed down and, later, when she was escorted from the courtroom by officers. 
 
 A jury found Spears, 27, a former Rockland County resident, guilty of second-degree murder on March 2 after a 14-day trial. Her lawyers have already filed a notice of appeal, maintaining she did not kill her son, Garnett. 
 
 Spears looked away as prosecutors argued that she should receive the maximum possible sentence of 25 years to life. 
 
 Westchester County Assistant District Attorney Doreen Lloyd focused her presentation on Garnett, who she said was robbed of his chance to grow up by his mother, who meted out a lethal dose of salt through his feeding tube. Lloyd said Spears had shown a pattern of sickening her otherwise healthy child out of a "bizarre" need for attention. 
 
 "Her actions were beyond depraved, despicable and evil. She showed her victim no mercy in that hospital room the day she poisoned her victim to death," Lloyd said. 
 
 Photo of Lacey Spears and son Garnett Spears. Lacey Spears was convicted of second-degree murder in the boy’s death. (Photo: Facebook photo) 
 
 Spears had chronicled her sickly son's many illnesses — including his last — on Facebook and a personal blog. 
 
 The defense has contended that Spears was a doting mother tried on sketchy evidence. Spears' lawyers suggested it was Nyack Hospital's treatment of the boy that led to his death on Jan. 23, 2014, at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Valhalla. Attorney David Sachs sought the minimum of 15 years to life, saying Spears had no criminal record, cooperated fully in the investigation and voluntarily surrendered to police. He argued that the maximum would be "unduly severe." 
 
 CLOSE Attorneys for Lacey Spears, Stephen Reibling and David Sachs talk to the press after Spears was sentence to 20 years to life in the death of her son, at the Westchester County Courthouse in White Plains. ( Video by Ricky Flores/The Journal News ) 
 
 Spears had moved to Rockland from Florida 14 months before Garnett's death, living at the secluded Fellowship Community in Chestnut Ridge. 
 
 Sachs said all of Garnett's good qualities praised by prosecutors were the result of her successful parenting, and noted that she had moved to New York seeking a better life for her son. 
 
 He said he had provided numerous letters in support of Spears "by the people who knew Garnett and Lacey best," including Garnett's maternal grandparents, aunt and other relatives. Another letter came from the Westchester County jail chaplain. Each asked the judge for leniency at sentencing. 
 
 #laceyspears gets 20 years to life — Lee Higgins (@LeeHiggins) April 8, 2015 
 
 While the probe into Garnett's death focused on Munchausen by proxy, prosecutors ultimately did not introduce that theory at trial, suggesting they were convinced the evidence they had was strong enough on its own for a conviction. 
 
 Spears' other lawyer, Stephen Riebling, said after the sentencing that it was curious that Neary mentioned Munchausen when there was no testimony about it at trial. 
 
 CLOSE Westchester County prosecutor Doreen Lloyd addresses the court before the sentencing of Lacey Spears who was convicted of killing her son Garnet. Judge Robert Neary sentenced her to 20 years to life. Video by Joe Larese/The Journal News 
 
 Nellie Grossenbacher, 40, of Pearl River, whose four young children were friends with Garnett, said after the sentencing that it was important that prosecutors gave the boy a voice and "it's sad he is not with us right now." She simply tells her children Garnett "got sick" and doctors couldn't help him. 
 
 "My children often still talk about him and miss him," she said. 
 
 Timeline 
 
 November 2012: Lacey and Garnett Spears move to The Fellowship Community in Chestnut Ridge 
 
 Jan. 17, 2014: Garnett admitted to Nyack Hospital 
 
 Jan. 19, 2014: Garnett airlifted to Westchester and admitted to Maria Fareri Children's Hospital's ICU 
 
 Jan. 22, 2014: Garnett declared brain dead. Spears asks a friend to remove a salt-laden feeding bag from her home 
 
 Jan. 23, 2014: Garnett dies 
 
 April 4, 2014: The Westchester medical examiner rules the boy's death a homicide 
 
 June 17, 2014: A Westchester grand jury indicts Spears on second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter charges 
 
 Feb. 3, 2015: Jury selection begins in Spears' murder trial 
 
 March 2, 2015: Jurors reach a verdict of second-degree murder 
 
 Earlier stories 
 
 Earlier coverage 
 
 Multimedia: 
 
 Garnett Spears (Photo: Facebook photo provided courtesy of his family) 
 
 CLOSE Lacey Spears sentenced at Westchester County Courthouse to 20 years to life in son's death. (Video by Peter Carr/The Journal News) 
 
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 The mother can do extreme things to fake symptoms of illness in her child. For example, she may: 
 
 Add blood to the child's urine or stool 
 
 Withhold food so the child looks like they can't gain weight 
 
 Heat up thermometers so it looks like the child has a fever 
 
 Make up lab results 
 
 Give the child drugs to make the child throw up or have diarrhea 
 
 Infect an intravenous line (IV) to make the child sick 
 
 What are signs in a mother? 
 
 Most people with this problem are mothers with small children. Some are adult children taking care of an older parent. 
 
 The mother often works in health care and knows a lot about medical care. She can describe the child's symptoms in great medical detail. She likes to be very involved with the health care team and is liked by the staff for the care she gives her child. 
 
 These mothers are very involved with their children. They seem devoted to the child. This makes it hard for health professionals to see a diagnosis of Munchausen syndrome by proxy. 
 
 What are signs in a child?
– Lacey Spears, the mom convicted in March of poisoning her 5-year-old son to death with salt, received 20 years to life in prison at her sentencing today, the Westchester Journal News reports. Acting state Supreme Court Justice Robert Neary said he didn't give her the maximum 25 years to life prosecutors wanted because he believes she suffers from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a mental illness in which a caretaker either fabricates a child's illness symptoms or causes them. "In many respects your crime is unfathomable in its cruelty," he told the 27-year-old. "It was a serious and orchestrated series of actions that really shock the conscience." He said he hoped Spears would deal with her illness while in prison and that this case would put Munchausen syndrome in the public eye. Spears was found guilty on March 2 of second-degree murder for poisoning Garnett-Paul by force-feeding him large doses of sodium through a stomach tube; he died shortly after being transferred from Nyack Hospital to another New York hospital. Spears had documented Garnett's failing health on Facebook and her blog in what prosecutors say was a ploy for sympathy. "Her actions were beyond depraved, despicable, and evil. She showed her victim no mercy in that hospital room the day she poisoned her victim to death," a Westchester assistant DA said, the Journal News notes. Spears' defense team, which tried to partially pin Garnett's death on Nyack Hospital, said she continues to maintain her innocence and offered letters from Garnett's maternal grandparents in her defense.