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FOR PUBLICATION
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: THOMAS W. VANES Office of the Public Defender Crown Point, Indiana ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE: STEVE CARTER Attorney General of Indiana

GEORGE P. SHERMAN Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
MAGDALENA LOPEZ, Appellant-Defendant, vs. STATE OF INDIANA, Appellee. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No.45A03-0609-CR-00411

APPEAL FROM THE LAKE SUPERIOR COURT CRIMINAL DIVISION, ROOM 3 The Honorable Diane Ross Boswell, Judge Cause No. 45G03-0507-MR-00008

July 17, 2007 OPINION - FOR PUBLICATION

SULLIVAN, Judge

Following her plea of guilty but mentally ill to two counts of Murder, a felony, 1 Appellant-Defendant, Magdalena Lopez, appeals her aggregate sentence of 110 years in the Department of Correction by claiming it is inappropriate in light of her character and the nature of her offense. We affirm. The record reveals that on July 19, 2005, Lopez made an emergency 911 call reporting that she had killed her children. Upon arriving at Lopez's residence in Dyer, Sergeant David Swinford of the Dyer Police Department found her sons, Antonio Lopez, age nine, and Erik Lopez, age two, lying dead in a significant amount of blood in the dining and living room areas of the house. According to Sergeant Swinford, there was a substantial amount of blood on the floor, walls, blinds, and ceiling in the kitchen and dining room area as well as in the garage. Sergeant Swinford testified that upon

conducting an interview with Lopez, she told him that she had killed both of her children because "she believed that they would be in a better place." Tr. at 26. According to Sergeant Swinford, Lopez detailed for him the events leading up to and including the deaths of her children, including the fact that the day had begun and proceeded normally until approximately 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. when she began to have thoughts of killing them. Lopez provided no justification for these thoughts apart from her belief at the time that they would be in a better place. These thoughts lasted approximately an hour and included her contemplation, while using a frying pan in the kitchen to warm up some food, that the frying pan was not significant enough to kill the children. According to
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Ind. Code

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