‘Got away from church that was bad for her’
Dena Schlosser, the Plano mother who killed her baby by cutting off her arms, will soon be a free woman.
State District Judge Chris Oldner on Thursday ordered that Ms. Schlosser be released from Rusk State Hospital to continue her treatment as an outpatient.
The judge, who in 2006 found Ms. Schlosser not guilty by reason of insanity, determined that her needs “and the safety of the community can be met with outpatient services,” according to court documents.
But Judge Oldner’s ruling set strict conditions for her release — which probably will occur within a month — and her freedom will be revoked if she doesn’t comply. The judge ordered that she have no unsupervised contact with minor children; comply with a birth control regimen that’s supervised by a doctor; attend weekly mental health appointments; and continue her medication.
“She’s not released to go anywhere and do what she wants to do,” her attorney, David Haynes, said Friday. “She’ll be under the supervision of the court and the doctors at the hospital where she’s been treated.”
Ms. Schlosser’s release was opposed by the Collin County district attorney’s office, said Curtis Howard, an assistant district attorney who prosecuted Ms. Schlosser n 2006.
“We felt she needed to be in [the institution] longer because her last psychotic episode was under two years ago,” said Mr. Howard, referring to a nonviolent incident that occurred when she was at a mental institution in Vernon. He said that her medication was changed as a result of the episode, but that he is concerned she might have another one.
Mr. Haynes said reports and testimony from mental health professionals who have been treating Ms. Schlosser convinced the court that she’s not a threat to herself or others.
Ms. Schlosser is prevented from seeing her two surviving daughters under the terms of her January 2007 divorce from John Schlosser, who moved with his children to the Weatherford area.
“She appreciates the enormity of the death of her child at her hands, and she’s going to spend the rest of her life living with that,” Mr. Haynes said. “She’s gotten away from a relationship and a church that were bad for her, and she’s fought hard to regain her mental equilibrium.”
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