Prosecutor: Bathtub drowning mom tried to kill 2 sons before
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A prosecutor says a Pennsylvania woman accused of drowning her two young sons in a bathtub nearly three years ago had tried to kill the boys before.
An Allegheny County prosecutor made that claim in opening the non-jury trial of Laurel Schlemmer. The 43-year-old McCandless woman is charged with killing her two youngest sons, 6-year-old Daniel, and 3-year-old Luke, in April 2014 so she could focus on raising their older brother.
Schlemmer’s attorney didn’t make an opening statement. But in a pretrial discussion with the judge made clear that he’ll try to prove Schlemmer was insane or operating under diminished mental capacity.
The prosecutor says Schlemmer left Daniel in a hot vehicle in 2009, then ran over both boys with her van about a year before drowning them.