The mother who drowned her three children in 2008 now wants a cut of their $350,000 estate.
Leatrice Brewer killed her 1, 5, and 6-year-old sons and daughter in the bathtub of their apartment in New Cassel, on Long Island in February 2008. She was found not guilty due to a mental disease, and her attorneys are now saying she shouldn't be restricted by laws that don't allow convicts to make profits from their crimes, the Associated Press reported.
Brewer has been kept at a state psychiatric hospital since the trial, but will be taken from the facility to testify concerning her request in November, Nassau County Surrogate's Court Judge Edward McCarty ruled Thursday.
Son of Sam Law - a piece of New York legislation named after a 1970s serial killer - was established to bar criminals from gaining earnings from their crimes by selling their stories to movie directors or publishing houses. But Brewer's case is different, since she wasn't convicted for the killings.
Brewer confessed to murdering her three children. She said she also tried to commit suicide by ingesting a series of household cleaning chemicals. When that didn't work, she jumped from the second floor of her apartment, but still survived.
During her trial, she faced three murder counts in the death of the children. She pleaded not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect, AP reported. Mental health experts stated that Brewer was victim of a serious depressive disorder. Brewer testified that she murdered the children to save them from voodoo magic that might have killed them.
If Brewer wins her case, it could set a new standard for New York legislation. But even if she does succeed, attorneys wager she won't receive the money because of a $1.2 million claim against her for the mental health services she has received in the psychiatric facility.
The father of Brewer's 1-year-old son, Innocent Demesyeux, and 5-year-old son, Michael Demesyeux, filed a suit that was settled for $250,000. The father of Brewer's 6-year-old daughter, Jewell Ward, settled in court for $100,000, the Associated Press reported.
Brewer will appear in court on Nov. 6 to make her case.
