{"id":272867,"date":"2026-08-26T23:00:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T23:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/272867\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T23:00:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T23:00:20","slug":"berks-woman-gets-state-prison-sentence-in-killing-of-daughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/272867\/","title":{"rendered":"Berks woman gets state prison sentence in killing of daughter"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Exeter Township woman who admitted to strangling her 3-year-old daughter four years ago while mentally ill has been given a 16- to 40-year state prison sentence for third-degree murder.<\/p>\n

The sentence was announced Thursday afternoon by Berks County Judge Thomas G. Parisi, two days after Solange J. White, 37, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to third-degree murder. The plea averted a non-jury trial that had been scheduled to begin Tuesday.<\/p>\n

White, who has been confined to a state psychiatric facility, had waived her right to a speedy trial numerous times as her lawyers requested additional time to prepare her defense.<\/p>\n

District Attorney John T. Adams indicated at the time of her arrest on\u00a0<\/a>June 30, 2022, that as the case evolved it would become evident that mental health issues played a role in the tragedy. He said the family was concerned about her mental health, and she was about to undergo professional treatment.<\/p>\n

Police gave this account:<\/p>\n

Exeter police responded to a 3:40 a.m. 911 call from the residence in the 100 block of West 46th Street in Reiffton. The caller reported a 3-year-old girl was unconscious and said he believed White had strangled her.<\/p>\n

White\u2019s husband told police that he was awakened by White, who urged him to get a gun. He asked, \u201cWhat have you done?\u201d and went to check on the children in the house. He found the victim motionless and blue in the face.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

STEVEN HENSHAW \u2014 READING EAGLE<\/p>\n

Police protect the scene in the 100 block of West 46th Street in Exeter Township on June 30, 2022, hours after a child was found dead. (STEVEN HENSHAW READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n

People inside the home attempted lifesaving measures. Investigators noticed marks and bruising on her neck, consistent with strangulation-type injuries.<\/p>\n

Police found White at the front door crying when they arrived.<\/p>\n

The prosecution was preparing for a trial this week when White\u2019s attorney, Matthew S. Kopecki, informed Assistant District Attorney Meg McCallum and the judge that White wanted to change her plea after four years.<\/p>\n

During Tuesday\u2019s sentencing hearing that followed the plea, McCallum called four family members to speak.<\/p>\n

Several people \u2014 friends and loved ones \u2014 spoke on behalf of the defense. Several letters were submitted by members of the community on the behalf of White.<\/p>\n

McCallum, the lead prosecutor, described a long day of emotional testimony in a case that has stretched out for more than four years. She also submitted for the judge\u2019s consideration the mental health evaluation completed by a psychiatrist retained by the prosecution.<\/p>\n

McCallum and Adams agreed the guilty-but-mentally ill plea was the appropriate outcome based on the totality of the witness statements and mental health findings.<\/p>\n

Adams said the psychiatrist his office retained determined White was competent to stand trial but qualified for a guilty-but-mentally-ill prosecution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just a horrible case,\u201d Adams said Friday, reflecting on the outcome. \u201cI feel it was the right thing to happen. There are no winners here. This was a tragic, just terrible situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said White will be transferred to a state prison designated for inmates with psychiatric disorders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure she will be receiving intensive mental health treatment while incarcerated,\u201d Adams said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Exeter Township woman who admitted to strangling her 3-year-old daughter four years ago while mentally ill…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,202,1411,182,139,28,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-272867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-exeter-township","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}