BRADENTON, Fla. (Reuters)
A former funeral home
director was sentenced to one year in jail for
cutting off a
dead
man's hand as part of a Voodoo-like ritual two years ago.
Paula Albritton, 45, was convicted on March 5 of abusing a
dead human body by cutting off the left hand of Willie
Sutton in 1997 as she was preparing his body for burial after he
died of natural causes.
Sutton's hand was found in the Manatee River in November,
1997 and identified through fingerprints. When his body
was exhumed, small dolls and notes were found inside his chest.
Albritton was taken from the
courtroom to the Manatee County
jail after she was sentenced Monday by Manatee
County Circuit Judge Peter Dubensky, court officials said. She
could have been sent to prison for up to 15 years.
``I'm very sorry for the grief this caused the
(Sutton)family,'' Albritton said before she was sentenced.
Albritton's son, Jimmy Lee Clark, 23, pleaded no contest to
the same charge last November and is serving a one-year
sentence.
Albritton confessed to cutting off Sutton's hand when she was
questioned by police. But at her trial, she said her
confession was a lie to protect her son.
