Madison County woman sentenced to life in daughters’ deaths could get parole
Paula Sims, a Madison County woman serving a sentence of life in prison in the deaths of her daughters more than 30 years ago, is eligible for a parole hearing after a commutation by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker adjusted her sentence.
The commutation was first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Thursday.
Sims 61 , was convicted of killing her infant daughter Heather in Alton in 1989 and hiding the death of another daughter, Loralei in 1986. She was serving a life sentence without parole.
In appeals and clemency requests, Sims’ lawyers have argued that she was suffering postpartum psychosis at the time of the babies’ deaths.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch report Thursday stated the commutation will make her eligible for a parole hearing in front of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, which would decide whether to release her from prison. If the majority of the board doesn’t agree to parole for Sims, she would remain in prison until her next parole hearing.
Sims’ attorney Jed Stone confirmed the news of the commutation to the BND on Friday. Stone said the next parole hearing is scheduled for September.
Attempts to reach the governor’s office for comment the commutation were unsuccessful.
Stone told KTVI-Fox Channel 2 that he was thankful for Pritzker’s decision.
“I’m very grateful to Governor Pritzker for recognizing that postpartum psychosis is a serious mental illness that deserves the attention of the medical community and the legal community,” Stone said. “Paula suffered from postpartum psychosis at the time of her crimes and a sentence of life without parole for a person with mental illness is not justice.”
Sims was convicted in Madison County on Jan. 30, 1990, on first-degree murder charges in the death of six-week-old Heather Lee Sims. Paula Sims said the baby was taken by a masked gunman. Heather’s body was found six weeks later in a trash dumpster in West Alton.
She pleaded guilty three months later to charges that she obstructed the investigation into the death of 13-day-old Loralei Marie Sims in 1986. Loralei’s body was found in the woods near the Sims’ Brighton home.
Sims faced the death penalty, but jurors instead chose life in prison due to lingering questions about her husband, Robert Sims’ role. At the time, police and prosecutors theorized the daughters were killed because Robert Sims preferred boys.
Robert Sims and the couple’s son Randall were killed in a jeep accident in Jackson, Miss., in 2015.
The news of Sims’ commutation and future parole board meeting brought outrage from State Sen. Rachelle Crowe of Glen Carbon, a former Madison County prosecutor.
“Failing to take responsibility for her heinous actions, she showed no remorse while also delegitimizing mothers who suffer mentally from postpartum health issues,” Crowe said in a statement. “Sims was charged with first-degree murder and imprisoned because she poses a significant threat to our community. That she may soon be released to walk among us is not only insulting to those whose lives were destroyed by her actions, but also endangers the integrity of our criminal justice system as a whole.”
This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 3:01 PM.
