INDEPENDENCE, MO. ? An Independence, Mo., woman has been convicted of murdering her 3-year-old son by doing nothing to prevent her boyfriend from killing the boy.

Lena Buhr, 28, was convicted Friday of second-degree murder, child endangerment, hindering prosecution and tampering with physical evidence. Her son, Anthony Buhr, died June 8, 2002, after being choked, burned and sodomized, prosecutors said. It took a Jackson County jury 40 minutes to return the conviction against Lena Buhr.

Prosecutors did not accuse Buhr, of Independence, of abusing her son. The problem, they said, was that she did nothing to turn in her boyfriend, Bryon Griffin, who committed the crimes. Moreover, they said, Buhr destroyed evidence, lied and delayed emergency care that could have saved Anthony.

“As Anthony continued to die, this defendant continued to lie,” said assistant prosecutor Ted Hunt. “She chose her boyfriend, not her baby.”

Prosecutors contended that on June 6, 2002, after returning home and finding that her son had been abused, Buhr waited 90 minutes before calling 911 because she was cleaning the bloody bathroom where authorities believe much of the abuse took place.

Griffin was sentenced in September to two consecutive life terms after he pleaded guilty in July to 11 of the 16 felony charges he faced.

Buhr told police she stayed with Griffin despite suspecting that he had abused the boy.