Gigi Jordan, a wealthy New York mom awaiting trial on charges of killing her son in a New York hotel room, claims in new court documents that she took his life to "protect" him from being abused and tortured by his biological father.
Court documents filed Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court by Jordan’s attorneys claim she feared her business partner and ex-husband was planning to kill her, which would have left her disabled son in the care of his father.
Documents claim she "…saw no path by which she could protect her child. Death -- for both of them -- was the only refuge."
Jordan, who amassed a fortune in the pharmaceuticals industry, was arrested on Feb. 5, 2010 when police busted down the door of her pricey suite in the Peninsula Hotel to find her 8-year-old son, Jude Michael Mirra, on the bed and not breathing.
Jordan was found on the floor, barely alive. Police say bottles of prescription drugs littered the floor and bed of the hotel room.
They accused Jordan of feeding her son prescription drugs for him to overdose and that she had also attempted to do the same, after emailing a suicide note to a group of people. A relative in Europe received that message in time and alerted authorities.
Jordan’s attorneys, a team that includes Ron Kuby and Alan Dershowitz, claim the child, who had been originally diagnosed as autistic, actually suffered from “catatonic psychosis,” a response to repeated, serious trauma.
Court papers allege that the boy, who was able to communicate with his mother by typing on a laptop computer, described being a victim of “extreme sexual and ritualistic abuse” by his biological father.
Jordan claims she tried to report the abuse to child protective services in several states, but received little help from the authorities.
Local
Court papers continue to assert that at the same time Jordan was dealing with the sexual abuse, she discovered that her business partner and former husband had been stealing from her -- as much as $112 million.
According to court papers, Jordan confronted him with the fraud allegations and feared for her life.
All this, her attorneys argue, contributed to her actions in February of 2010.
“Gigi Jordan made a tragic choice,” according to court papers. “If she could not protect Jude from the abuse he had suffered his whole life that left him mute, disabled and terrified, death for them both was preferable. Jude, at least, would be with God.”
Jordan’s legal team planned to argue for bail at her scheduled court appearance Tuesday afternoon.
She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
