A Florida mom on trial for shooting and killing her two children was insane at the time of the murders, according to a psychologist's testimony at her trial.
Julie Schenecker is facing two first-degree murder convictions for the 2011 deaths of her 13-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter. The 53-year-old mother's defense lawyers claim she was not sane when she killed her kids with a shotgun and then tried to kill herself, the Associated Press reported. That claim was defended by testimony from Dr. Eldra Solomon, who said Schenecker considered herself "a failure" because she did not succeed at killing herself.
"Sane people don't kill their children," said Solomon, who spent nearly 20 hours with the accused mother, the AP reported.
"I think without a doubt she was insane at the time of the shooting and during the week prior to the shooting," the psychologist said at the trial in Tampa.
Solomon told the court that Schenecker suffers from bipolar disorder with psychotic features. On top of that, the mother was molested by a neighbor when she was 7 and tried to commit suicide on two occasions.
Six months before the murders, Schenecker went off her medication, which placed her on a "downward spiral" of depression and psychosis, Solomon said according to the AP.
Schenecker shot her daughter, Calyx, and her son Beau Schenecker, in her minivan in January 2011. The mother intended to kill herself by breathing in carbon monoxide, swallowing pills and then shooting herself. But when Julie Schenecker took the pills she ended up remaining unconscious for the entire night. Officers found her the next day.
"She said she was very angry at herself because she failed," Solomon said, the AP reported. "She was very upset because she didn't succeed at killing herself."
Prosecutors say Julie planned the murders days in advance, writing down her intentions in a journal, the AP reported. Prosecutors also said other doctors who examined the defendant in 2011 saw no indication of psychosis.
Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.
