Crawford woman pleads no-contest to 3rd-degree murder in adopted son's poisoning in 2021

TIM HAHN   Erie Times-News

A Crawford County woman accused of fatally poisoning her adopted special needs son in September 2021 pleaded no-contest to third-degree murder in the case days before she was scheduled for trial.

Mary E. Diehl, 64, entered the no-contest plea before Crawford County Judge Mark Stevens on Friday morning, according to her lawyer, Eric Hackwelder. Diehl is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday afternoon.

Hackwelder said Diehl faces a range of sentencing of no less than six to 12 years in prison to no more than 10 to 20 years on the plea.

Diehl's plea came as jury selection was scheduled to begin on Monday for her trial in Crawford County. Hackwelder and prosecutors said during a pre-trial hearing in September that they expected the trial to take about a week.

Pennsylvania State Police investigators accused Diehl of providing a "poisonous substance" to 11-year-old Najir W. Diehl at their home on Mallard Road in East Fairfield Township, Crawford County, causing the boy's death on Sept. 5, 2021.

Najir, who was born in Erie and whom Diehl later adopted, had special needs and an extensive history of heath-related problems, authorities reported after his death.

A trooper testified during Diehl's preliminary hearing in December 2021 that Diehl initially told a 911 dispatcher she believed Najir died after having a seizure and suffocating in his bedding. The Crawford County Coroner's Office initially determined the boy died of asphyxiation due to a seizure disorder, but toxicology testing that was done found a lethal level of methanol in the boy's system, according to the trooper's testimony.

Erie County forensic pathologist Eric Vey, M.D., was then contacted and, following more study, Najir's death was determined to be methanol toxicity, with a single dose occurring on Sept. 5, 2021, according to the testimony.

The trooper testified that, during an interview with Diehl on Nov. 8, 2021, she stated she had given Najir a half-full cup of windshield washer fluid to drink because she wanted to "free him." When the trooper asked what Diehl thought would happen when the boy drank it, he said Diehl said he "passes."

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.