ANDREW CIANFRINI - 21 months (2009) - Elmira/Batavia NY

The father of the boy fatally poisoned by an Elmira woman was not satisfied with the prison sentence handed down to her Monday in Chemung County Court.



Judge Peter C. Buckley sentenced Melissa Engelhardt, 24, to 20 years in state prison followed by five years of post-release supervision. In a bench trial in October, Buckley ruled Engelhardt was guilty of first-degree manslaughter and not guilty of second-degree murder in the Nov. 10, 2009, death of her stepson, 21-month-old Andrew J. Cianfrini of Batavia."I still don't think 20 years is long enough. I'm just glad she'll never see my children again," George Engelhardt, Melissa's husband, remarked after the sentencing.The toddler was on a custodial visit to his father in Elmira when Melissa Engelhardt poured windshield washer fluid mixed with a sweet beverage into the boy's sippy cup. The boy died of methanol poisoning; methanol is a component in some windshield washer fluids, as well as antifreeze.Melissa and George Engelhardt have one natural child, born before the October trial.A girl younger than age 5 also was removed from the Engelhardt home by Child Protective Services when Melissa Engelhardt was initially charged.Melissa Engelhardt cried in the courtroom as Andrew's mother, Kristen Cianfrini, and grandparents read statements to the court.Outside the courthouse, Cianfrini said of the sentence:"It's better than I figured it was going to be on the way that he sentenced her to only manslaughter. It's not 25 (years); it's not life, but at least her kids will be old enough to know why she wasn't there and what she did," Cianfrini said.In deciding the sentence, Buckley told the courtroom he factored in Engelhardt's history of mental health issues and the fact that she did not take her medication at the time the crime was committed.She told Elmira police investigators she didn't intend to kill the child."I didn't want him to die," Engelhardt said in the statement. "I just wanted to make him sick."Engelhardt said she wanted to blame Andrew's mother for the poisoning to help her and George Engelhardt gain custody of the child.More than a dozen witnesses testified during the two-day trial, including a toxicologist, a computer forensics expert and the child's biological parents.Engelhardt faced a maximum sentence of 25 years.