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Woman who killed her children to be tried despite insanity claim
More articles on this topic: Lashuan HarrisVoices in her head said to throw 3 boys in bay, defense says
Lashuan Harris, the Oakland woman who threw her three children into the bay from a San Francisco pier last October, was ordered Thursday to stand trial for the killings despite testimony that she is mentally ill.
Superior Court Judge Teri Jackson said there was enough evidence presented during a three-day hearing at San Francisco’s Hall of Justice to suggest that Harris committed a crime and that she should stand trial for the killings of Trayshaun Harris, 6, Taronta Greely Jr., 2, and 16-month-old Joshua Greely.
Jackson said as a judge she is able to consider circumstances surrounding a particular crime or act, and Harris’ mental illness might be pertinent. “The court is well aware of Ms. Harris’ mental illness,” Jackson said. “But the court has to follow the law at this time.”
She ordered Harris to be arraigned in Superior Court on June 8. She is charged with three counts of murder, three counts of killing a child under the age of 8 and special circumstances, which means she could face either the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole.
Harris’ attorney, public defender Teresa Caffese from the public defender’s office, said Harris committed the acts because she heard voices in her head. She said the voice of God told her to make a living sacrifice of her children by throwing them into the bay.
A psychiatrist who saw Harris the day after the incident testified that Harris suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and “command auditory hallucinations.”
Caffese has criticized the district attorney’s office for bringing charges against someone who is clearly mentally ill.
Assistant District Attorney Linda Allen said Harris is being prosecuted because “three innocent children were killed at the hands of their mother.”
“The purpose of this preliminary hearing is not to determine sanity or insanity,” she said. “That’s to be determined at a later date.
“We know she was hearing voices, but the defendant chose to sacrifice her children’s lives to satisfy these commands,” she said. “Her conduct afterward shows that she knew what she was doing. She had criminal intent. She was remorseful.”
The testimony at the preliminary hearing included witnesses who saw Harris before and after she threw her children into the bay, and San Francisco police Inspector Daniel Everson, who investigated the case with his partner, Inspector Dennis Maffei. The prosecution also showed the videotape of the detectives’ interview with Harris a few hours after the killings.
In that interview, Harris, 23, described how her sons had fought her as she removed their clothing, and picked them up to throw them into the water. Her oldest son, Trayshaun, said “Mama, don’t do it” and her 16-month-old clung tightly to her before she tossed him over the side, too.
After the judge’s ruling, family members and friends who had been in the courtroom for the entire hearing said they were shocked and saddened that Harris must go to trial.
“She would never do anything like that in her right mind,” said a cousin, Asia Powell, also from Oakland. “It’s not fair and it’s not just to send her to trial.”
“She loved those kids,” said Donella Hodges, a friend of Harris. “She never did nothing to no one. She’s very religious, very sweet person.”
Harris’ best friend, Tinisha Green, said Harris is on medication, which explains why she has been so passive in the courtroom. She said Harris goes in and out of her mental illness. That’s why, she said, Harris appeared almost comatose when she was being interviewed by detectives the night of the killings, but later stood up and cried uncontrollably for her dead children.
“To her, God is everything,” she said. “In her mind, he asked her to sacrifice everything for him.”
After the hearing, Caffese said she hoped the district attorney’s office would now come to its senses and try to find a way to help Harris without making her suffer through a trial that she will not understand.
She said justice would best be served if Harris were allowed to plead guilty to something like involuntary manslaughter and then committed to a mental institution for appropriate treatment.
“The truth is, my client is a danger only to herself,” she said. “But at least I wish the district attorney would stop threatening to kill her.”
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