Woman Sentenced to Death for Killing 6 -year-old Son

RUSSELLVILLE, Ala. – (AP) - A Franklin County judge has ordered a death sentence for a Russellville woman accused of setting a house fire that killed her 6-year-old son in order to collect life insurance.
Circuit Judge Terry Dempsey sentenced 31-year-old Christie Michelle Scott on Wednesday, deciding not to go along with the jury, which recommended life in prison without parole.
Scott was convicted of capital murder in July for starting the fire at her family's Russellville home that killed Mason Scott a year ago.
She was accused of starting the fire to collect $175,000 in life
insurance on her son, including a $100,000 policy purchased 12 hours before his death.
Dempsey said a death sentence is "the only way justice can be served in this case."
Scott testified during the trial that she was innocent and did not know how the fire started.