Texas Mom Not Guilty

BAC'sMom wrote: Texas Mom Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity

By JULIA GLICK
Associated Press Writer

More U.S. Video


McKINNEY, Texas (AP) -- A woman accused of cutting off her 10-month-old daughter's arms and leaving the baby in her crib to die was found not guilty by reason of insanity at a retrial Friday.

Dena Schlosser, 38, will be sent to a state mental hospital for 30 days. She could then be released if she's deemed not to be a threat to herself or others.

Police arrested Schlosser in 2004 after she told a 911 operator she had severed her baby's arms. Officers found the baby, Margaret, near death and Schlosser covered in blood, holding a knife and listening to a hymn.

At her first trial, the jury deadlocked on the murder charge in February, with 10 of the 12 jurors saying Schlosser was insane. The deadlock forced a mistrial, and the two sides agreed last week to have Judge Chris Oldner decide the case.


Defense attorneys told the judge last week that Schlosser had a brain tumor that could have caused hallucinations before the killing - an argument not heard by the jury because the tumor hadn't been confirmed by a neurologist until weeks later.

Oldner issued the verdict without elaboration Friday morning.

Schlosser was quiet as bailiffs led her away.

Defense attorney David Haynes said she had hoped for hospitalization because "she feels it is her best chance to get better."


"We have a just verdict in a just case, but yes, it is bittersweet," he said.

Prosecutor Curtis Howard said he thought that Schlosser was guilty and that there wasn't enough evidence to prove insanity. He said the fact she told her husband afterward that she had "killed the baby" proved she knew what she was doing.

"This is a case that could have gone both ways; we knew that," Howard said.

The case against Schlosser had hinged on whether she had severe mental problems that kept her from knowing her actions were wrong.

Several psychiatrists had testified that Schlosser lost touch with reality, suffered severe mood swings and experienced religious hallucinations and delusions. One doctor said she told him she wanted to cut off her baby's arms and her own limbs and head and give them God.

The defense faulted Schlosser's husband for not getting her adequate mental health treatment and also blamed her preacher, Doyle Davidson, who believes only God can cure mental illness.

The state argued the defense was trying to deflect responsibility from Schlosser. Prosecutors presented a methodical case, focusing on possible inconsistencies and behaviors that might indicate she knew that killing her baby was wrong.

After Schlosser spends 30 days in the hospital, the staff there will report on her mental health, and a judge will decide whether to recommit her. If that happens, she would be reevaluated after six months, and then each year after that.

"My own expectation is that she will remain at the hospital for many, many years," Haynes said.

Bob Nicholas, who helped raised Schlosser and was her only relative in court Friday, called the verdict the best possible scenario.

"This whole situation with Dena was a tragedy," Nicholas said. "We've got the loss of Maggie, who never reached her first birthday. We've got two little girls coping with the loss of their sister and of a loving, caring mother."

Schlosser's husband, John Schlosser, has filed for divorce and has custody of the couple's two other daughters.

Schlosser is one of three Texas women to seek the insanity defense in recent high-profile cases after the deaths of their children.

Jurors rejected the insanity defense in 2002 for Andrea Yates, the Houston mother who confessed to killing her five children by drowning them in the family bathtub. She will again use the insanity defense in her June retrial.

In 2004 in East Texas, Deanna Laney was acquitted by reason of insanity after she was accused of stoning to death her 8-year-old and 6-year-old sons.

C&K*s Mommie replied: I believe they will get their just punishment.

gr33n3y3z replied: Oh yes now days everyone pleeds Insanity
Burns me

MamaJAM replied: That poor baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I never heard of this story before...that is absolutely HEARTBREAKING!! How can anyone do that to an innocent little baby.

If she's really so insane that she doesn't know reality from fantasy.....she needs to be locked away in an institution for the rest of her life. Her punishment is a joke....and if she walks in 30 days -- that just shows how pathetic the judicial system can be.

kayla's mama replied: That is just ticked me off when I heard that today. I can't stand that whole insanity plea, give me a freakin' break. That just sickens me.

kimberley replied: they better keep her locked up forever then!

JP&KJMOM replied: That is all I can say without censorship!

3xsthefun replied: This really, makes me mad.

I will not say anything else, I'm afraid I will be banned for what I really want to say.

ilovemybaby replied: I heard about this. It is terribly terribly tragic and disturbing.
I just cannot imagine anyone doing this... even mothers with Postpartum Psychosis don't go that far. Yes, some have killed their babies. But not by cutting off their limbs. 30 days is just ridiculous. I have suffered depression that has lasted longer than 30 days. She needs to be in there at least 1 year IMO
And I think her pastor and husband need to take a good hard look at themselves too. Yes, we should look to God when sick but sometimes it just isn't enough. I have even heard of pastors who have been on antidepressants. And her husband should have been looking after her... making sure she did get medical treatment.

Here in NZ if a child is being abused physically by one parent and the other knows and says nothing then they can get charged as well. For example... if Paul was beating Abby and I knew and did nothing to protect her... I would also go to jail.

I think her husband needs to be brought up on some kind of charges. And I think it is horrible that he has got custody of the other two kids. I mean, yeah I'd probably do the same. But he is acting like she is the only sick one that did something terribly wrong. But he did nothing to get treatment for her. He did not protect the baby. Paul would never leave me alone with Abby if he had reason to think I would hurt her. I guess this guy wouldn't either ... but he didn't exactly do anything to prevent it. If she had not hurt her baby and had killed herself he would be feeling terrible guilt for doing nothing to help her. But because she killed "his" child it's a different story?

jem0622 replied: While I cannot even begin to understand what went through her mind and cause her to do what she did, I find it interesting how the article was written. If she did indeed suffer from PPD or any other kind of problem, then someone else (AKA the spouse, the mother, the sister, the friend) knew about it and did nothing. They usually do something far less dangerous as a plea for help. If people see the issue boiling then they have the power to intervene and commit someone who is a danger to themselves and society. So I'd love to know more than just the fact that she committed this awful act.

She will pay mentally for this for the rest of her life, so I don't think anyone has to worry about that. And the article does mention that she will likely be in the mental hospital for YEARS. Gotta read all of the words in the article.

Don't even get me started on Russell Yates either. I do not support nor pity the spouses of women who suffer from post trauma disorders and their husbands do little or nothing.

As always, the media provides only so much information and we have to digest it and interpret it in our own way.

Many prayers for this angel who died in a most horrible way. Many mental health organizations do a better job than our prisons, so I think they will be honest in what should be done for this woman.

punkeemunkee'smom replied: I am willing to bet that GOD whom they all seem to say they thought they were listening to will have something to say to them when they have to face Him!



The above statement says ALOT to me about her mental state of mind! If she was infact insane and lacking in the awareness/knowledge of right and wrong then why the call to the police? Why would you call 911-the emergency # that you call when something is wrong if you had no understanding that you had just done something harmful. It makes me sick that these women have been played out in the media as the victims in these crimes and it makes me sicker still that we have now had 2 juries that have bought their line of B.S.! 30 days in a mental ward??? It is a travisty of justice and morality...all I can pray is that she doesn't ever close her eyes again without the sight of that poor baby in her mind!


I want to add also-sorry to - but Can't it be argued that everyone who commits a crime against another person is in some capacity mentally unstable? Why is it that when the crime is commited against the youngest and most precious members of our society-especially when it is thier mothers who commit the crime- that some people seem to readily accept mental illness as a COPOUT!?!

BAC'sMom replied:

I agree with you totally......Well except I think people like this should have to go to the front of the line KWIM (death row) and that includes Andréa Yates.

But before I get bashed please let me tell you that my opinion is coming from someone who has had a family murdered in cold blood.
My uncle was killed by a shotgun blast that was ruled accidental. The person who shot him (his wife) later killed another person 2 years later. When she got caught in murder #2 she confessed to murder #1(my uncle). She was the first woman to be put before the Texas death penalty after it was reinstated in the early 70’s. She got (2) 99-year sentences to be served consecutively, but she only served 14 years. See in the mid 80’s Texas had an early release program and she got out then. She lived about 16 years then she died. This is the same time that Kenneth Allen McDuff was released, who later killed again.

What kind of justice is that?

ashtonsmama replied: OMG!

I can't BELIEVE someone would do that to their own (or anyone else's) precious baby! That disgusts me. She deserves the death penalty...if anyone ever did, it's people that mangle and kill their own children. It makes me so mad, and it's so painful to read about.

My3LilMonkeys replied:
ITA with this.

I have issues with "not guilty by reason of insanity" in general. It does have its place and proper use but in cases such as this I think a verdict of something like "guilty but insane" would be appropriate - maybe life in a mental institution rather than a death penalty.

redchief replied: What happened to that little girl and that family is truly horrible. I've dealt with mentally ill and dellusional people before. Mental illness is horrible too. I know a lot of people feel that lady should never see the light of day again, and I feel your anger too. An innocent lost her life to her mother's disease. Those she leaves have to cope with loss and confusion the rest of their lives. For herself, even if they find a way to make her well, part of that healing will be the realization of what she did to her own daughter. Whether she ever gets out of that hospital or not, that woman will never see the light of day, at least not like we do.

People with her type of mental illness truly do not understand the permanency and wrongness of what they're doing. She is unable to differentiate between the real world and the twisted thoughts in her mind. The whole case saddens me.

MM'sMama replied:

ilovemybaby replied:
I agree. People suffering from depression do things they know are wrong or stupid but they are not thinking straight. And if she had Postpartum Psychosis (which is WAY worse than normal depression and Postpartum depression) then she would have done it knowing in the back of her mind it was wrong but she wouldn't have been able to do anything about it.
That's why I think the husband should face some kind of charges for not doing anything to get help for her.