The Oglethorpe Echo
An Oglethorpe County woman convicted of attempting to kill her teenage son by slitting his throat in 2021 was released on a $25,000 bond on Feb. 5, the same day the jury returned a guilty verdict. It was an uncommon move in a violent felony case, Northern Judicial Circuit District Attorney D. Parks White said.
Diane Margaret Sykes was found guilty of criminal attempt to commit murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and multiple counts of cruelty to children after a jury deliberated at the courthouse for about two hours last Thursday.
Sykes’ sentencing is scheduled for March 17. She faces a maximum of 93 years.
“I’ve never had a situation where a person was found guilty of attempted murder, cutting a child's throat from ear to ear, where a judge released her the same day of the verdict,” White said.
The charges stem from an Aug. 21, 2021 incident at the family’s home in Maxeys.
White said Sykes lured her then 15-year-old autistic son outside, asked him to look up at the moon, and while he was distracted, used a box cutter to cut across his neck from “ear to ear” in an attempt to kill him.
After the attack, Sykes attempted suicide by cutting her wrists and later trying to drown herself in the family’s pool.
She then drove about 29 miles to Athens, where she told officers that she had cut her son’s throat and intended to kill herself after killing him because she did not want him to be “a burden” on the family.
The teen survived but required surgery to repair the laceration. White said the boy testified at trial and described the attack and how he believed he was going to die.
A competency evaluation found Sykes competent to stand trial.
Her defense argued she was not guilty by reason of insanity after a state evaluator completed a criminal responsibility evaluation in 2024 and concluded she met the legal standard for insanity, but prosecutors challenged that conclusion at trial.
White said prosecutors presented evidence that the attack was planned and that Sykes demonstrated awareness of wrongdoing afterward, including fleeing the area and initially giving officers a false explanation of her injuries.
Jurors were given the option to find Sykes not guilty by reason of insanity, not guilty, guilty but mentally ill or guilty. They returned a guilty verdict on all counts.
Prosecutors asked that Sykes be taken into custody following the verdict, but Judge Harvey Wasserman granted a new bond and ordered her to surrender her passport and sign a waiver of extradition.
Wasserman’s assistant said in an email that he’s “not able to comment on any cases.”
White said that typically, a defendant’s bond is revoked once a guilty verdict is returned because the case has been decided and the person is awaiting sentencing. But setting a new bond after conviction doesn’t violate law.
Sarah Owens is a master’s student in journalism at the University of Georgia.