Ohio Judge Delivers Maximum Sentence in Tragic Case of 3-Year-Old's Murder

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CLEVELAND (WJW) — In a significant ruling on Monday morning, Bionca Ellis received the maximum penalty for the fatal attack on a 3-year-old boy last summer. The incident occurred in the parking lot of a Giant Eagle, and her actions were deemed unprovoked.

Earlier this month, Ellis was found guilty on multiple counts, including aggravated murder, solidifying her responsibility for the tragic event.

The judge sentenced the 34-year-old to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, marking a definitive end to her trial.

Ellis chose not to take the stand during her trial. Her legal team entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, arguing that she has long struggled with mental health issues and was not in a sound state of mind at the time of the crime.

WJW photo

The child’s mother, Margot Wood, testified during the murder trial. She cried on the stand as she described Ellis with a knife stabbing her son, Julian, for no reason. The boy’s mother was also stabbed in the attack. Margot Wood said she did not know Ellis.

Ahead of Ellis’ sentencing on Monday, she told the court:

That women murdering my son replays in my head ever single day. It is my living nightmare. The last thing I will ever hear from my son is his scream and the sound of his pain and fear before he was gone. I can still see the terror in his eyes and it haunts me every day.

Courtesy of Wood Family

Julian’s father, Jarred, also spoke in court, saying his young, dinosaur-loving son was smart, funny, and had a way of lifting up others.

He told the court, “That monster took him from us.”

“Now all of our hearts will forever be missing a piece, and it’s up to all of us to keep his light shining even though his star is gone,” said Jarred.

Margot Wood told Ellis in court, “You deserve to go to jail for the rest of your life so you can’t hurt anyone else. You don’t deserve a second chance. You don’t deserve mercy. You didn’t give my son any.”

Mental health experts testifying for the defense describe Ellis as mentally ill, and said she didn’t know right from wrong.

FOX 8 Photo

On Monday defense attorney’s told the sentencing judge, Ellis is “two different people” depending on if she’s medicated or not and said they disagree with the verdict.

Ellis briefly spoke ahead of her sentencing, saying “I just want to say I apologize (inaudible.)”

The FOX 8 I-Team has reported in the past on mental health concerns, long before Bionca Ellis ended up on trial. The I-Team found that Ellis was released from jail on another case days before the murder despite a recommendation in court to have her get another mental health evaluation.

A prosecution expert, however, testified that he believes Ellis carried out the attack because she wanted to be arrested and was angry.

Prosecutors said during the trial that Ellis felt someone at the North Olmsted Police Department had taken her money after she was arrested on a probation violation a few days prior to the deadly attack. When Ellis did not get the money she felt she was owed from the department, security video shows she went to a nearby thrift store and took knives from a bin. A few minutes later she went to the Giant Eagle, waving a knife in her hand.