Mom convicted in La. knife slayings of daughter and autistic son

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Mom convicted in La. knife slayings of 2 children

May 14, 2009

THIBODAUX, La. (AP) — A woman accused of fatally stabbing her 9-year-old

daughter and 7-year-old son with several kitchen knives was convicted Thursday

of two counts of first-degree murder by a jury.

Amy Hebert, 42, of Mathews, had entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by

reason of insanity to the Aug. 20, 2007, slayings of her daughter, Camille, and

an autistic son, Braxton. Jurors took about two hours to deliberate before

returning the verdict.

Prosecutors argued that Hebert stabbed the children to get back at her

ex-husband, Chad Hebert, because of an affair he had with another woman whom he

subsequently married.

Jurors were told Hebert stabbed her daughter more than 30 times in the back and

chest and another 30 times in the scalp despite the girl's pleas for mercy.

Experts said she then stabbed her autistic son about 50 times in the chest and

back.

Defense attorneys maintain she suffered a psychotic fit in which she said she

heard a man's voice commanding her to kill the children and herself. Chad Hebert

intended to take their children forever that morning, the voice told her, unless

she fatally stabbed them, defense experts testified.

After the verdict was read, Hebert showed no visible emotion.

The 10 women and two men on the jury, which has been sequestered throughout the

trial, are expected to return Friday to decide whether Hebert should be

sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty.

In his closing argument Wednesday, Lafourche Parish District Attorney Cam

Morvant II said the prosecution had presented an " abundance of evidence " showing

Hebert had intended to kill her children and had not been commanded by a voice

to do so.

" That was her decision, " Morvant told jurors. " Nobody made her do it. There

wasn't no voice there. That's a rationalization after the fact. "

Defense attorney Parnham said his team had presented " overwhelming "

evidence showing Hebert as a loving mother who had been suffering from a

psychotic delusion.

He noted that Hebert's ex-husband had not tried to take full custody of their

children, but the defendant's delusional mind made her believe that it would

occur the day the children were killed.

" That's not built in reality, " Parnham said. " That's built in non-reality. "

Both children had defense wounds on their arms suggesting they had struggled

with their knife-wielding mother, authorities said. Eleven kitchen knives were

used in the slayings, the jurors heard.