Mentally ill mother who drowned her three kids in the bath goes to court for a slice of their $350,000 estate

  

A mentally disturbed woman who drowned her three young children in a bathtub is going to court to ask a judge for a cut of their $350,000 estate.

Leatrice Brewer will be taken from an upstate psychiatric facility to testify about her request next month, Nassau County Surrogate's Court Judge Edward McCarty ruled Thursday.

Brewer, 33, was found not guilty because of mental disease or defect in the deaths of her children, Jewell, six, Michael, five, and Innocent, one, so her attorneys say she shouldn't be subject to laws that bar convicts from profiting from their crimes.

Brewer admitted she drowned the children in the bathtub of her apartment in New Cassel, on Long Island about 20 miles east of New York City, in February 2008. She later placed the children's bodies on a bed and tried to kill herself by swallowing a concoction of household cleaning chemicals. When that suicide bid failed, she jumped out her second-story window but again survived.

Instead of facing trial on three murder counts in the children's deaths, Brewer pleaded not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect. Psychiatrists had determined she suffered a major depressive disorderand believed she killed the children to save them from the potentially fatal effects of voodoo.

Brewer is being kept at a state psychiatric hospital until psychiatrists determine she's no longer mentally ill.

Although the case would establish a precedent in New York if Brewer succeeds, she's not expected to see any money because of a $1.2 million lien against her forpsychiatric counseling and other services she has received since her arrest, attorneys said.

The case drew attention to Nassau County's social services agency, whose caseworkers visited Brewer's apartment two days before the killings and found no one home but neglected to schedule an immediate follow-up visit. Two social workers were later suspended.

Lawsuits against the county filed by the father of Brewer's 1-year-old son, Innocent Demesyeux, and 5-year-old son, Michael Demesyeux, were settled for $250,000. A lawsuit filed by the father of Brewer's 6-year-old daughter, Jewell Ward, was recently settled for $100,000.

SCRIPTURES

LAMENTATIONS 4:3Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

4The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of hismouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.

1 PETER 3:7Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.