For killing her daughter 30 minutes before shooting herself in the chest, the woman, 46-year-old Sujatha Guduru, refused Florida State’s offer to convict her of second-degree murder, which carries a 30-year prison stint, instead requesting a first-degree murder charge, which would result in Guduru spending her life in prison.
The judge said he would allow Guduru to plead guilty as charged and sentence her to life in prison only if the mental health professional who next evaluates her finds that she's thinking rationally. Guduru has a long history of mental illness. She told police she’d killed her daughter because there would be no one to take care of her after Guduru committed suicide.