Woman Jailed In Long Beach Chooses Death Over More Time Behind Bars
Lawanda Sockey had been clean for years. She did a dangerous dance with crack cocaine in the 1990s, running afoul of the law on a few possession charges. But by the end of the millennium she was clean, with a steady job and a place of her own. For a decade things were good. Lawanda helped raise her sister's two youngest children, contributing to family life on a daily basis.![]()
Lawanda Sockey (left) with sister, Teresa in better days
But then their mother died in 2009, which seemed to act as a trigger for Lawanda's addiction. "Little by little she started losing weight," says Teresa Flynn, Lawanda's sister. "You couldn't tell she was on drugs. I couldn't tell. And then little by little my family would tell me, 'She's doing something.' I started really noticing this year."
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