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Mom Who Threw Sons Into Bay Convicted
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A mother who claimed she was sacrificing her young sons for God by tossing them to their deaths in San Francisco Bay was convicted Tuesday of second-degree murder.
LaShuan Harris, 24, claimed she was insane when she drowned the three boys on Oct. 19, 2005. The murder convictions each carry mandatory sentences of 15 years to life in prison.
Harris, who was previously acquitted of first-degree murder, also faces 25 years to life after a jury convicted her last week of assault of a child causing death.
Killed in the drownings were 6-year-old Treyshun Harris, 2-year-old Taronta Greeley Jr. and 16-month-old Joshoa Greeley.
In her videotaped confession, Harris described struggling with two of the boys as she stripped them and plunged them into the bay in an area where tourists stroll along the waterfront. Her youngest boy laughed, thinking it was a game.
One of the bodies was recovered, but the others were never found.
Her lawyer said Harris was schizophrenic and borderline mentally retarded, and that she was convinced she was sending her children to heaven.
Harris "believed she was sending her children to a better place," attorney Teresa Caffese said.
Harris waived her right to continue the case in front of a jury and planned to ask the judge to find her not guilty by reason of insanity.
Assistant District Attorney Linda Allen had urged jurors to use their heads to decide the case. "I don't expect you to have a cold heart, but to have a rational mind," Allen said.
Harris was placed in a psychiatric hospital six times between February 2004 and August 2005. On the day the children died, her mother warned a social worker that she would hurt the boys. But the social worker didn't believe her, Caffese said.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All right reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
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