Dinwiddie woman sentenced to life in prison for killing 6-year-old son

Dinwiddie County mother Julie E. Futrell will spend the rest of her life behind bars.

After Futrell testified yesterday about how good of a mother she was, Dinwiddie Circuit Judge Pamela S. Baskervill sentenced Futrell, 36, to life in prison for drugging and stabbing to death her young son in the family's bathtub in 2006.

Baskervill imposed the sentence recommended by a jury, which convicted her of murder in March.

"She testified on her own behalf . . . that she was a good mom," said Dinwiddie Commonwealth's Attorney Lisa Caruso. But what Futrell did to 6-year-old Shawn A. Futrell "was the most horrible thing a mother could ever do to her child."

Futrell's sentencing had been delayed several times since her trial because of issues involving her mental health. After Futrell's conviction, her defense attorney asked that his client be examined again for competency -- as she was before trial -- and she was determined mentally incompetent. Her competency was then restored after spending time at Central State Hospital.

According to evidence at trial, Futrell drugged her son with seven times an adult dose of sleeping medicine before trying to strangle him. When that didn't work, she stabbed him seven times in the chest. When authorities entered the home Nov. 26, 2006, they found the young boy naked and dead in a bathtub.

Prosecutors showed that Futrell became increasingly desperate after her husband, Shawn Futrell Sr., left her two days before Thanksgiving.

Contact Mark Bowes at (804) 649-6450 or .