Mentally ill woman gets 25 years in prison for baseball bat at

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- A mentally ill Missouri woman who severely beat her ex-girlfriend's new lover with an aluminum baseball bat has been ordered to spend 25 years behind bars.

Before being sentenced Friday, RaYace Martin, 33, of the St. Louis suburb of St. Ann, Mo., apologized to victim Bridget Brown, 29, and ex-girlfriend Christina Schutze, saying she never planned to pummel Brown outside the victim's Edwardsville home.

Prosecutors say Martin ambushed, then attacked Brown on Aug. 11, 2001, after spraying the woman in the face with Mace. Schutze stopped the attack when she arrived at Brown's house. Brown fully recovered from the attack.

During Friday's sentencing, Martin said she planned only to damage Brown's home that night, not confront Brown.

"I never sat down one day and decided to ruin the rest of your life -- it just happened," Martin told Brown in court.

In June, Madison County Circuit Judge Ann Callis rejected Martin's insanity defense, ruling that Martin was mentally ill but still guilty of the crime.

Martin, who must serve 85 percent of her sentence, gets nearly a year of credit for time she already has served in the Madison County Jail.