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November 8, 2009

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Mother draws life prison terms for killing 2 children

Sunday, Aug. 22, 1999 | noon

Washoe District Judge Peter Breen handed down the sentence Friday to Denise Diana Buchanan, 33, of Sun Valley, who will be eligible for parole in 20 years.

"I can't understand crimes like this ... There is a dark cloud that hangs over a case like this," Breen said.

A jury last spring convicted Buchanan of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of sons John and Jacob Leal, but acquitted her in the death of a third son.

In a mostly circumstantial case, prosecutors suggested the boys were suffocated. But Buchanan's public defender, Jennifer Lunt, argued all three boys had kidney problems that could have accounted for the deaths.

Pathologists were unable to conclude the cause of death in any of the three cases partly because tissue samples were destroyed before they were tested, Lunt added.

The boy's father, Francisco Leal, joined prosecutors in asking for the maximum penalty of two consecutive life prison sentences without parole.

"I will forever wonder what my children would have looked like," he told Breen. "I hope God can forgive her because I sure as hell can't."

Buchanan made little comment to the judge other than to maintain her innocence. She plans to appeal the jury's conviction.

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