"Judge rules mother who drove kids into ocean was insane" Associated Press December 13, 2014
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A South Carolina mother was insane when she drove her three children into the ocean and therefore is not guilty of child abuse, a Florida judge determined Friday.
Prosecutors, in turn, dropped three attempted murder counts filed against Ebony Wilkerson.
After ruling that Wilkerson, 33, was not guilty by reason of insanity, Circuit Judge Leah Case ordered a hearing next week to determine whether she should be involuntarily hospitalized for treatment or released with court supervision. The judge and attorneys said the plea and subsequent hearing were rare.
‘‘This is kind of out of the ordinary, and we’ve been doing this a long time,’’ Case said.
The deal between prosecutors and Wilkerson’s public defenders was reached after a psychologist hired by prosecutors agreed with a defense psychologist that Wilkerson had suffered a psychotic break when she drove her van into the surf off Daytona Beach in March. Bystanders and officers pulled her and her children to safety.
Pregnant at the time, Wilkerson told a Daytona Beach safety officer that she was abused by her husband, accusations he later denied.
She gave birth to a son after her arrest, and her husband took custody of the child. The other children are in state custody, and Wilkerson has been denied permission to see them.
During next week’s hearing, the judge will consider testimony from psychologists who have evaluated Wilkerson since her arrest.
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I guess that gets to the bottom of it all.
