Black mom who threw sons into bay convicted of murder



This is sooo sad. No one ever takes mental illness seriously until a tragedy occurs
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SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- A mother who claimed she was sacrificing her young sons for God by tossing them to their deaths in San Francisco Bay was convicted Tuesday of second-degree murder.

LaShuan Harris, 24, claimed she was insane when she drowned the three boys on October 19, 2005.

In a videotaped confession, she described struggling with two of the youngsters as she stripped them and plunged them into the bay in an area where tourists stroll along the waterfront. Her youngest child laughed, thinking it was a game.

Killed in the drownings were 6-year-old Treyshun Harris, 2-year-old Taronta Greeley Jr. and 16-month-old Joshoa Greeley.

One of the bodies was recovered, but the others were never found.

Harris could receive up to life in prison on the murder convictions and convictions last week for assault of a child causing death.

She was previously acquitted of first-degree murder. (Full story)

Lawyers plan to present her insanity defense to a judge in a bid to spare her from the maximum sentence. That phase of the trial was scheduled to begin Wednesday.

Harris' attorney said Harris was schizophrenic and borderline mentally retarded, and that she was convinced she was sending her children to heaven.

"Mental illness is complicated. The criminal justice system is not the forum to treat the severely mentally ill," attorney Teresa Caffese said after Tuesday's verdict.

Harris was placed in a psychiatric hospital six times between February 2004 and August 2005.

On the day the children died, her mother warned a social worker that she would hurt the boys. But the social worker didn't believe her, Caffese said.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/01/16/children.in.bay.ap/index.html

That made me sick when I read that. Personally I'd still lock her up for as long as possible.

Where was her or the Daddy's family in all this I remember when it happened and it was brought up about the social worker but where is our sense of responsibility as a family unit anymore. I have a cousin who is borderline mentally retarded and she had a daughter by some dude, as soon as that girl was born my aunt took her and raised her as her own, there is no way we would've let her Mama( my cousin) raise that girl , hell she had one other child a few years earlier that died as a baby and after the last child that my Aunt took the family made her get her tubes tied.

We need to start taking responsibility for ourselves again and stop depending on the government to do what's right for us.

In this gal's case I'd lock her down until she left the land of the living personally regardless of mental condition.


MississippiRed

Isn't odd that when there's a story about someone getting off on killing or maiming a child or person because of insanity, then like 5 or 6 similar stories pop right up with the same claims? Is it just me that's noticing that?

Like when the mom drowned her kids, then like 4 more moms claimed depression and did the same thing within months?

for the Mom but I feel more for those children. I agree with MissippiRed--where was the extended family in all this? She's sane enough to have sex and keep popping out kids but when she kills the children-the question of sanity arises.
If she was institutionalized 5-6 times previously--why weren't the children removed from her care for their own safety?

Isn't odd that when there's a story about someone getting off on killing or maiming a child or person because of insanity, then like 5 or 6 similar stories pop right up with the same claims? Is it just me that's noticing that?

Like when the mom drowned her kids, then like 4 more moms claimed depression and did the same thing within months?

I remember some of her family members getting on the newsand saying that they had unsuccessfully tried to get her help in the past and that she was really unstable. It's too bad they couldn't have done more. That white lady that drowned her five kids had so much support. When she was sentenced to prison at first people were so mad about it. I don't know though-she looks sane enough now that she's free.

I remember some of her family members getting on the newsand saying that they had unsuccessfully tried to get her help in the past and that she was really unstable. It's too bad they couldn't have done more. That white lady that drowned her five kids had so much support. When she was sentenced to prison at first people were so mad about it. I don't know though-she looks sane enough now that she's free.



it all depends on what state you live in. Had she even looked at those kids crossed-eyed here in NYC and someone called ACS (Administration of Child Services) would have had to open an investigation.
I am not going to discount the family's efforts but when all eyes are on you and fingers are pointing at you- it's easy to shrug and say "I did all I could".
In NYC you can have someone legally committed if they are a danger to themselves or others--even if it's only for an overnight evaluation.