INNOCENT and MICHAEL DEMESYEUX, and JEWEL WARD - Convicted: Mother, Leatrice Brewer - Long Island, NY

NY mom who killed 3 kids wants cut of their estate

Posted: Oct 03, 2013 5:47 PM EST Updated: Oct 03, 2013 5:58 PM EST

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) - A mentally disturbed woman who drowned her three young children in a bathtub is going to court to ask a judge for a cut of their $350,000 estate.

Leatrice Brewer will be taken from an upstate psychiatric facility to testify about her request next month, Nassau County Surrogate's Court Judge Edward McCarty ruled Thursday.

Brewer, 33, was found not guilty because of mental disease or defect in the deaths of her children, ages 1, 5 and 6, so her attorneys say she shouldn't be subject to laws that bar convicts from profiting from their crimes.

Brewer admitted she drowned the children in the bathtub of her apartment in New Cassel, on Long Island about 20 miles east of New York City, in February 2008. She later placed the children's bodies on a bed and tried to kill herself by swallowing a concoction of household cleaning chemicals. When that suicide bid failed, she jumped out her second-story window but again survived.

Instead of facing trial on three murder counts in the children's deaths, Brewer pleaded not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect. Psychiatrists had determined she suffered a major depressive disorder and believed she killed the children to save them from the potentially fatal effects of voodoo.

Brewer is being kept at a state psychiatric hospital until psychiatrists determine she's no longer mentally ill.

Although the case would establish a precedent in New York if Brewer succeeds, she's not expected to see any money because of a $1.2 million lien against her for psychiatric counseling and other services she has received since her arrest, attorneys said.

New York's Son of Sam Law, named for the 1970s serial killer and amended in 2001, was designed to prevent criminals from profiting from their crimes, such as by selling their stories to book publishers or moviemakers. The judge in Brewer's case, though, has noted the unique aspect - that Brewer wasn't convicted.

The case drew attention to Nassau County's social services agency, whose caseworkers visited Brewer's apartment two days before the killings and found no one home but neglected to schedule an immediate follow-up visit. Two social workers were later suspended.

Lawsuits against the county filed by the father of Brewer's 1-year-old son, Innocent Demesyeux, and 5-year-old son, Michael Demesyeux, were settled for $250,000. A lawsuit filed by the father of Brewer's 6-year-old daughter, Jewell Ward, was recently settled for $100,000.

The judge has scheduled a Nov. 6 hearing on the matter.

http://www.wistv.com/story/23604688/ny-mom-who-killed-3-kids-wants-cut-of-their-estate

Tried to access an older article for background but was unable to.  Google sucks big time.

This murdering bitch has one hell of a nerve trying to reap the benefits of her evil deeds.  OMG how can such evil exist?

She wasn't crazy, she was evil.  How could a cold blooded murderer try to get money from her evilness?  Oh Lord, this bitch should have been executed and we could have avoided all of this craziness.

I-Team: Long Island Mother Who Drowned 3 Children in Bathtub Gives Birth to 4th Child While Incarcerated
Leatrice Brewer drowned her three children in a Long Island bathtub in 2008

By Ann Givens and Pei-Sze Cheng
Friday, Oct 11, 2013    
Updated 11:59 AM EDT

A woman who admitted to drowning her three young children in her Long Island bathtub five years ago has given birth to a fourth child while incarcerated at what is supposed to be a secure upstate psychiatric hospital, the I-Team has learned.

Leatrice Brewer, 33, was found not guilty because of mental disease or defect in the 2008 deaths of her children, and has been held ever since at the secure Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Center in New Hampton. Her case has received renewed attention in recent weeks because she is trying to collect $350,000 from a settlement that the childrens’ fathers won from Nassau County in wrongful death lawsuits.

But now the father of two of the three children Brewer killed says he has been contacted by a lawyer trying to find an appropriate placement for the newborn Brewer had while in custody.

“She told me Leatrice had a baby while she was in that facility,” Innocent Demesyeux said in an interview with the I-Team.

It is unclear who that baby’s father is, or under what circumstances Brewer became pregnant. The state Office of Mental Health, which oversees Mid-Hudson, declined to comment, citing privacy laws.

Attorney Tom Foley, who represents Demesyeux, said "it's outrageous" that Brewer was able to conceive a child while incarcerated.

"This person's supposedly in a secure facility and she gets pregnant. This is the woman who had no idea what she was doing when she murdered her children."

Because she was technically found not responsible for the children's deaths, lawyers say she may be able to claim some or all of the $350,000 estate their fathers won.

However, even if the judge rules she can collect, Brewer is not expected to see any of the money -- there is a $1.2 million lien against her for psychiatric counseling and other services she has received since her arrest, lawyers have said.

Another option the court could consider is to award some or all of the money to Brewer baby, as her heir.

It is unclear who now has custody of the baby.

After Nassau Surrogates Court Judge Edward McCarty decides whether Brewer is entitled to collect, he must make a similar ruling about the children's two fathers. If he finds that the men effectively abandoned their children, they may not be entitled, lawyers say.

The judge has scheduled a hearing on the matter Nov. 6.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/Mother-Kills-Children-Gives-Birth-Newborn-Incarcerated-Psychiatric-Facility-Leatrice-Brewer-227303331.html

'Son of Sam' loophole may help killer get kids' cash
A New York law prevents convicted criminals from profiting from their crimes. But Leatrice Brewer, who killed her three children, could still cash in.

1 day ago
By Frank Eltman of Associated Press

MINEOLA, N.Y. — It's the hallmark of New York's "Son of Sam" law and others like it across the nation — convicted criminals should not be able to profit from their crimes.

But legal experts say the case of a Long Island mother who drowned her three children in a bathtub and is now seeking to cash in could succeed because of a loophole. Since Leatrice Brewer was never convicted — instead found not guilty by reason of mental disease — legal experts say she could make a plausible case to receive some of her children's $350,000 estate.

"The Brewer case is a novel circumstance," said George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley. "The facts do seem to place her outside the scope of the law, although that does not mean there could not be other barriers to her recovering from the estate of her children."

Brewer, 33, slashed her daughter's throat before drowning her and two younger brothers in 2008, believing she was saving them from the deadly effects of voodoo. Hours after the killings, she survived two suicide attempts — swallowing a concoction of home cleaning fluids and later jumping out a second-story window.

She was found not guilty because of mental disease or defect in the deaths of the children, ages 1, 5 and 6, and was committed to a state psychiatric hospital.

A hearing before Nassau County Surrogate Court Judge Edward McCarty next month will determine if Brewer is entitled to a share of the proceeds from two lawsuits the children's fathers settled with the county; they claimed social workers failed to properly monitor the woman and children.

Caseworkers visited Brewer's apartment two days before the killings and found no one home but neglected to schedule an immediate follow-up visit. Two social workers were later suspended.

"As a human being, I am outraged and disgusted by this," said attorney Thomas Foley, who represents the father of the two slain boys. "As an attorney, I have some level of understanding of why we have to go through this charade, but it is difficult to forget we are here because of the actions of a crazy person who killed her kids."

Kenneth Weinstein, a court-appointed attorney representing any possible unknown heirs who may surface, was just as blunt: "It would stand the law on its ear if she were to receive any proceeds from her own heinous, felonious conduct."

New York was the first state to enact a "Son of Sam" law in the 1970s following the capture of notorious serial killer David Berkowitz. Its intent was to bar Berkowitz and other criminals from profiting from their crimes through the commercial exploitation of their stories.

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the law in 1991 for violating the First Amendment's guarantee of free expression, ruling it would have encompassed works including Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" and "The Autobiography of Malcolm X."

New York revised its law in 1992, and the state Senate has passed legislation seven times since 2006 — most recently in July, albeit with little fanfare — to try to address the issue of people held not responsible because of mental disease, said the bill's sponsor, Sen. John Flanagan. Companion legislation has been proposed in the state Assembly but has yet to gain any traction. Assemblyman Charles Lavine said he was optimistic the notoriety of the Brewer case could spark passage.

More than 40 states have enacted similar Son of Sam legislation, though there have been several successful court challenges on First Amendment grounds as well, said David L. Hudson, a scholar with the First Amendment Center in Nashville, Tenn.

Andy Kahan, a victim's rights advocate for the Houston Police Department and a national expert on Son of Sam and related laws, said he knows of no other efforts to close existing loopholes in other states.

"Perhaps as a result of this case, others will go back and look at and consider revising their Son of Sam laws," he said.

Although legal experts agree the case would establish a precedent if Brewer succeeds, she's not expected to see any money because of a $1.2 million lien against her for psychiatric counseling and other services she has received since her arrest. Her court-appointed attorney did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Maebell Mickens, Brewer's grandmother, disputed that the woman's motivation is money, though she did not offer an alternative explanation.

"She ain't never wanted no money," Mickens told The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview.

"I love my granddaughter. I love her dearly, and I miss my great-grandchildren. I long for them; my heart hurts for them every day of my life."

Mickens said she sometimes speaks to Brewer by telephone. "She misses the children; she is still in so much pain. She calls crying and longing to hold her children in her arms again.

"She was a sick girl."

http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/son-of-sam-loophole-may-help-killer-get-kids-cash