EDWARDSVILLE — Madison County First Assistant State’s Attorney Crystal Uhe has asked the court to dismiss a request for a new trial by convicted Paula Sims based on an insanity defense.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
Madison County First Assistant State’s Attorney Crystal Uhe seeks to dismiss the most recent petition from Sims, saying it is not significantly different from a previous motion which was denied.
Sims most recent post-conviction petition was filed back November 2019.
Since she’s already been through the post-conviction petition act procedure ending in 2001 she had to ask permission to file this newest pleading. The Judge allowed it to be filed in March 2020. The State was then allowed to respond.
Paula Sims daughter Loralei was thirteen days old when Sims suffocated her and threw her body into a wooded ravine 100 feet from the doorstep of her Jersey County home. Less than three years later, the defendant again took the life of her infant daughter, Heather Sims, who was six weeks old when her mother suffocated her, placed her in a freezer, wrapped her in a trash bag and then discarded her in a public park in West Alton, Missouri.
When Loralei went missing in 1986, the defendant told authorities that she was taken by a masked intruder who took the infant from the family home. The family subsequently moved to Madison County and resided in Alton on April 29,1989, when Heather was reported missing. The defendant in 1989 again told authorities that it was the same masked intruder who took Loralei in 1986 who was now responsible for the second missing child.
Paula was convicted of First Degree Murder of Heather Sims in January of 1990. Sims was sentenced to life in prison.
More like this:
Related Video:
