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Mother of 3 Drowned Kids Going to Psych Center
Father had demanded that the case go to trial
Monday, Feb 9, 2009 | Updated 4:00 PM EDT
Leatrice Brewer was accused of drowning her three young children in the bathtub of her tiny apartment.
A New Yorker who had faced murder charges in the drownings of her three young children has entered a plea that will send her to a psychiatric facility rather than prison.
Leatrice Brewer has pleaded "not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect." The move follows separate evaluations by both defense and prosecution psychiatrists.
The Feb. 24, 2008, bathtub drownings claimed 6-year-old Jewell Ward and her half-brothers: 5-year-old Michael Demesyeux and 18-month-old Innocent Demesyeux.
Brewer twice tried to commit suicide that morning. She said she feared the children were under a Voodoo spell and had to be killed.
The boys' father had demanded that the case go to trial.
