A Tullytown woman who fatally poisoned her 2-year-old son Mazikeen Curtis by putting drugs in his sippy cup will serve up to 50 years in state prison.

Jennifer Clarey, 43, pleaded no contest Tuesday to counts of third-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child as part of a plea agreement that spared Mazikeen’s family the pain of a trial and avoided pursuit of the death penalty.

Tullytown Borough Police discovered Mazikeen’s lifeless body on a bed Aug. 25, 2018, while assisting Bucks County Children and Youth Services during a welfare check at Clarey’s residence in the 500 block of Lovett Avenue.

Residue of oxycodone was found in Mazikeen’s sippy cup at the home. Investigators also found an empty bottle of Benadryl in a trash can and located an empty prescription bottle for 120 Vicodin tablets inside a locked strong box.

Clarey, who police found bleeding from lacerations to her wrists on the bed with Mazikeen, was charged the following month after medical examination determined the boy had died of poisoning from oxycodone and diphenhydramine – the active ingredients of Vicodin and Benadryl.

 “You were there to protect this child, and instead you were so reckless, so thoughtless, so selfish so as to take this child’s life before he had the chance to experience all life has to offer,” said Senior Judge Clyde W. Waite. “This cannot be accepted in a civilized society.”

Waite accepted the plea negotiation and imposed the agreed upon sentence of 25 to 50 years in state prison.

A plea of no contest is not an admission of guilt, but acknowledges evidence in a case is sufficient to support a conviction at trial. The legal effect of a no contest plea is the same as a conviction or guilty plea.

The case was investigated by Bucks County Detectives along with the Tullytown Borough Police Department and was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Matthew S. Lannetti and Assistant District Attorney Megan K. Stricker.

Contact: Matthew Lannetti, 215.348.8018, mslannetti@buckscounty.org