Pennsylvania

Judge to issue verdict on mom in boys' bathtub drownings

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Laurel Schlemmer is escorted by Allegheny County sheriffs to court for the verdict in her murder trial, Thursday, March 16, 2017, in Pittsburgh. Schlemmer, charged with drowning her two youngest sons in their bathtub because she wanted to be a better mother to their remaining older brother has been found guilty but mentally ill of third-degree murder. Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning found that Schlemmer’s mental capacity was diminished by her illness so that she could not form the specific intent to kill required of the first-degree murder conviction prosecutors sought for the April 2014 killings. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic) (The Associated Press)

Laurel Schlemmer, center, is escorted by Allegheny County sheriffs to court for the verdict in her murder trial, Thursday, March 16, 2017, in Pittsburgh. Schlemmer, charged with drowning her two youngest sons in their bathtub because she wanted to be a better mother to their remaining older brother has been found guilty but mentally ill of third-degree murder. Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning found that Schlemmer’s mental capacity was diminished by her illness so that she could not form the specific intent to kill required of the first-degree murder conviction prosecutors sought for the April 2014 killings. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic) (The Associated Press)

Laurel Schlemmer, center, is escorted by Allegheny County sheriffs to court for the verdict in her murder trial, Thursday, March 16, 2017, in Pittsburgh. Schlemmer, charged with drowning her two youngest sons in their bathtub because she wanted to be a better mother to their remaining older brother has been found guilty but mentally ill of third-degree murder. Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning found that Schlemmer’s mental capacity was diminished by her illness so that she could not form the specific intent to kill required of the first-degree murder conviction prosecutors sought for the April 2014 killings. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic) (The Associated Press)

A judge is scheduled to issue his verdict in the trial of a mentally ill Pennsylvania woman charged with drowning her two youngest sons in their bathtub.

Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning says he'll deliver his verdict Thursday afternoon in Pittsburgh. He heard three days of testimony and arguments last week involving 43-year-old Laurel Schlemmer.

The McCandless woman's attorney has argued her diminished mental capacity kept her from forming the intent to kill her sons, 6-year-old Daniel and 3-year-old Luke, in April 2014. Schlemmer has told police she killed the boys so she could be a better mother to their oldest brother, who was 7 at the time.

Prosecutors want a first-degree murder conviction and life in prison. Schlemmer's attorney is hoping for an acquittal on mental health grounds or a conviction on a lesser count.