Bullitt County mom to plead guilty to killing her 2 sons last year, no plea deal offered

SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Tiffanie Lucas, who is accused of killing her two young sons last year, will plead guilty to the crimes Thursday, a prosecutor said Monday.

Lucas briefly appeared Monday morning in Bullitt Circuit Court, where her attorney asked Judge Rodney Burress for the change-of-plea hearing later this week. Burress agreed.

Bullitt County Commonwealth's Attorney Bailey Taylor told reporters after Monday's motion that Lucas' counsel informed him she will plead guilty.

There is no plea deal in the case, he said. Burress will decide her sentence.

Jonathon Villavicencio, Lucas' public defender, declined to comment after Monday’s hearing.

A trial was scheduled to start in December.

Lucas was arrested in November 2023 and charged with murder. Police said a neighbor found her sons, Maurice Baker Jr., 6, and Jayden Howard, 9, shot inside the family's home on Bentwood Drive in Bullitt County. Both boys died from their injuries.

Lucas had entered a not guilty plea and has remained in the Bullitt County Jail on a $2 million bond. Her murder trial was scheduled for December.

Bobbie Baker, the aunt of one of the boys killed, told reporters after Monday’s court appearance that she believes Lucas has been “coddled” and pushed back on Lucas’ claim to a detective that the shooting was accidental.

“It wasn't an accident,” Baker said. “One of the boys was shot twice. You don't shoot two little boys and call it an accident.”

Taylor, the prosecutor, said last December that the punishment for someone found guilty of capital murder could receive a sentence ranging from life in prison to the death penalty.

Baker said Monday that “there is no way in hell” that Lucas should get less than 25 years to life in prison.

“What I want is for her to wake up every day and not be able to leave out of those doors of that prison,” she said. “That will hurt her more than anything.”

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