Update on that crazy mom.

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Update on that crazy mom.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070117/ap_on_re_us/children_in_bay

SAN FRANCISCO - A mother who claimed she was sacrificing her young sons for God by tossing them to their deaths in San Francisco Bay was convicted Tuesday of second-degree murder.

LaShuan Harris, 24, claimed she was insane when she drowned the three boys on Oct. 19, 2005.

In a videotaped confession, she described struggling with two of the youngsters as she stripped them and plunged them into the bay in an area where tourists stroll along the waterfront. Her youngest child laughed, thinking it was a game.

Killed in the drownings were 6-year-old Treyshun Harris, 2-year-old Taronta Greeley Jr. and 16-month-old Joshoa Greeley.

Harris could receive up to life in prison on the murder convictions and convictions last week for assault of a child causing death. She was previously acquitted of first-degree murder.

Lawyers plan to present her insanity defense to a judge in a bid to spare her from the maximum sentence. That phase of the trial was scheduled to begin Wednesday.

Harris' attorney said Harris was schizophrenic and borderline mentally retarded, and that she was convinced she was sending her children to heaven.

"Mental illness is complicated. The criminal justice system is not the forum to treat the severely mentally ill," attorney Teresa Caffese said after Tuesday's verdict.

Harris was placed in a psychiatric hospital six times between February 2004 and August 2005. On the day the children died, her mother warned a social worker that she would hurt the boys. But the social worker didn't believe her, Caffese said.

The jury deliberated over nine days before reaching all verdicts.

One juror, Angel Pong, said Tuesday that the panel quickly decided that Harris was not guilty of first-degree murder, but were initially split between convicting her of second-degree murder or manslaughter.

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris said in a statement that the case "was tragic for all involved."


darth_josh
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And so she joins my mental

And so she joins my mental list of 'mental' others

Deanna Laney

Andrea Yates

 As well as the parents of:  Harrison Johnson, Ian Lundman, and Amy Hermandson.

Those are just top of mind. Now I can add Lashuan Harris. 

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