Self-pitying mother sobs as she admits torturing little boy to death and leaving him so hungry he scavenged food from trash
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An evil mom sobbed as she admitted torturing her son to death.
Jem Beam pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Friday after killing her 10-year-old son Braxtyn Smith.
Self-pitying Beam cried as she pleaded guilty, the Bangor Daily News reported.
Smith's father Joshua and grandmother Mistie Latourette are also facing charges over the child's death.
Beam pleading guilty was part of a plea deal, which dropped her charge from depraved indifference murder, which Joshua and Latourette still face.
The state will recommend Beam face 25 years in prison for her crime, the Bangor Daily News reported.
Smith died in February 2024 at a hospital after his mother had brought him to the hospital following months of abuse at the hands of his family.
He weighed just 48 pounds at the time of his death, and was left so hungry that he scavenged food from the trash.
Self-pitying Jem Beam was seen crying in court as she pleaded guilty
Braxtyn Smith weighed just 48 pounds at the time of his death, and was left so hungry that he scavenged food from the trash
Smith's cause of death was listed as blunt force injuries in the setting of battered child syndrome, meaning he died from a blunt-force wound, but had suffered prior chronic abuse.
Some of his injuries included head injuries, burns, bruises, and hemorrhages.
Beam and her family members were able to conceal the abuse as Smith was homeschooled, prosecutors said.
'So no one beyond the mother, father and grandmother knew the extent of the abuse,' Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin said.
'Her son was so hungry he was eating out of the trash and the solution was to restrain him.'
Investigators had found zip ties in the home with Smith's DNA on it, which matched markings on his body the coroner found.
They used the zip ties to secure him to chairs and even to them. They also forced him to fish out food from the trash and verbally abused him, the affidavit said.
Beam worked for the Department of Health at a psychiatric hospital in Bangor. Smith's grandmother did not work and the boy was home all day.
Her lawyer, Adam Swanson, said the court hearing was a 'very difficult day for Jem,' the Bangor Daily News reported.
'We do believe, though, that the manslaughter charge more accurately reflects her involvement with Braxtyn,' he told the press.
She will be sentenced after Joshua and Latourette's trials, which are set to begin on March 23.
