Update: Lynch to testify against Sims

Posted: May 7, 2011 9:23 PM by John Romero
Updated: May 8, 2011 4:41 AM

Monument residents are in shock over the news of Monique Lynch's plea deal that will drop her original charge of 1st degree murder. "It's totally inadequate to get a plea deal off of a murder charge of a child." says Monument resident Alan Stace..

The body of 9-year-old Genesis Sims was originally discovered in May 2010, by two contractors who were digging in the crawl space beneath a duplex where Lynch and Hanif Sims Genesis' father had once lived.

The El Paso County District Attorney Dan May tells News First 5 that in exchange for the plea, Lynch's charge will drop to child abuse resulting in death and she will face a sentence of 10 - 32 years. People we spoke to say that's not enough. "It should be very severe and that's not happening." says Stace.

In addition, the DA's office tells us Lynch will be expected to testify against Sims, whose charge will be upped to 1st degree murder. Even so, those we spoke with don't agree a plea like this should have been made. "If a girl is dead, for me it's life, not a plea issue." says Austin Fink, who was eating lunch in a grocery store parking lot. A woman we spoke to named Cindy agrees, "There should be no plea deal. It should be a closed case... Guilty."