Trial delayed again for Western Pa. woman in tub drownings
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Trial has again been delayed for a Western Pennsylvania woman charged with drowning her two young sons in a bathtub.
Forty-two-year-old Laurel Schlemmer was scheduled for trial Tuesday, but the Allegheny County district attorney’s office says the attorneys and judge will instead meet for a status conference only.
According to police, the 42-year-old McCandless woman told officers she heard “crazy voices” before she held her 6-year-old son, Daniel, and his 3-year-old brother, Luke, under water on April 1, 2014.
Police say Schlemmer told them she could be a better mother for her third, and oldest, son “if the other two boys weren’t around” and they would be better off in heaven.
Her attorney has been pursuing a mental health defense. A court-imposed gag order prevents him from commenting.