SARASOTA -- Leigh Lawson sobbed and begged for mercy in court Wednesday. She said she was sorry for abandoning her three children and knows now that she should be there for them.

But when the judge handed her a three-year prison term and barred her from having any contact with the children, her demeanor changed from remorseful to stony. The 33-year-old didn't say goodbye to her family as she was led back to jail. Lawson, a self-proclaimed drug addict, pleaded no contest last month to three counts of child neglect. She left her children, ages 2 months, 11 and 12, at home for about 15 hours Dec. 14 and 15 while she was on a  crack cocaine binge.

"She doesn't deserve a chance," Assistant State Attorney Elizabeth Scanlan said. "She just didn't care about her children as much as she did about cocaine. "

Alisia, 12, and Anthony, 11, waited in the courthouse hall with their cousins during most of their mother's sentencing. The two are living with their grandmother, Lois Tonic. Their baby sister, now 8 months old, still lives with a foster family. Lawson and her older children were featured in a Herald-Tribune series about homelessness during the winter of 2000. After the articles were published, the family received gifts and money and help finding a rental home.

Alisia and Anthony spent the 15 hours last winter changing their sister's soiled diapers and pouring milk and cereal into her bottle. A child therapist who showed up at their 32nd Street home at 11 a. m. the next day learned that Lawson had left the house at 8 p. m. the night before. Lawson didn't call the state Department of Children and Families to ask about her children's whereabouts until several hours after the therapist took charge of the children.

Sarasota police Detective Lynn Thompson said Lawson didn't ask about her kids when she was arrested.

"She didn't show any interest in the case or what the charges were," Thompson said.

Lawson, who was working as a certified nursing assistant at the time of her arrest, said she spent the past decade using crack and heroin. She said she's bounced from one abusive relationship to another.

"I've had several opportunities to get my life together," she told the judge. "I'm not Superwoman. I wasn't ready for treatment in the past. " Lawson tried to convince Haworth that she's ready now, and her lawyer asked that she be sentenced to house arrest and mandatory drug treatment. Prosecutors asked for five years in prison.