Bronx Mother Found Not Responsible for Killing Her Two Boys Because of 'Postpartum Psychosis'

In a case that echoes the Lindsay Clancy filicide case currently being deliberated by a Massachusetts jury, a New York judge has found a mother of two suffering from ‘postpartum psychosis’ not criminally responsible for killing her young children. Dimone Fleming, 26, was found not guilty “by mental disease or defect” earlier this week for the deaths of her two children, 3-year-old Daishawn Fleming and 11-month-old Octavius Canada, at a Bronx family shelter, the New York Times reported Friday. As with the Clancy case, the postpartum defense for child killing has ignited criticism from court watchers on social media. The verdict was enabled in part by psychiatrist Dr. Eric Goldsmith who evaluated Fleming at the request of the prosecution. He said the mother was hallucinating, and was convinced that the world was coming to an end. She also believed a spirit had invaded her body. Fleming was “grossly psychotic and out of touch with reality,” Goldsmith wrote in a report. The mother also believed her actions were necessary to “cleanse her children,” according to another psychiatric report written by doctors hired by her defense team. The case centers on a night in November 2022 when an employee at a women’s shelter in the Bronx called 911 and reported water and smoke coming from Fleming’s apartment. The mother was living in the shelter and had previously been working at a concession stand in Queens. She had also been hospitalized for two months, where she was diagnosed with major depressive disorder and prescribed medication, the Times reported, citing court records. However, Fleming did not take her medication as prescribed and instead used marijuana daily, which reportedly amplified her mental health symptoms, according to the New York Post. That night in November, Fleming was reportedly “naked from the waist up, sitting on a bed and holding a children’s book upside down when the police found her,” according to the Times coverage. Authorities eventually discovered she had repeatedly stabbed her two sons and then submerged them in the water in her bathtub. Police sources told the Post at the time that Fleming admitted to killing the children and made statements about the “devil” to detectives. Unlike authorities in the Lindsay Clancy case who are arguing for first degree murder in the killing of her three children, prosecutors in the Fleming case said trying the mother for murder would be unjust. The verdict by Judge Audrey Stone was the result of a plea by Fleming. “Prosecuting mothers does not and cannot prevent these crimes from happening, but public discourse might,” Bronx assistant district attorney Tiffany Wichman told the Times. “People talking about it is important, and I hope people continue talking about it.” Fleming will be reevaluated by court-appointed psychiatrists and is slated to return to court on Sept. 18. She has not been released from custody. While she has avoided prison, she could be hospitalized for months, or even years, in a mental facility. The slain children’s father, Columbus Canada, 35, was in court for the verdict and told the Times that he has forgiven Fleming. “She’s a good person,” he said. “She was a loving person. She loved kids.” Fleming’s case has drawn comparisons to the highly publicized Massachusetts trial of Lindsay Clancy, where a jury will resume deciding the former nurse’s fate on Monday. Clancy’s defense attorneys have argued that instead of a variety of murder charges, she should be found not guilty by reason of insanity. Clancy claims that she was experiencing “postpartum psychosis” and was on a host of powerful medications prescribed by psychiatrists when she strangled her three children in the basement of her home after sending her husband out on an errand. Breitbart contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times true crime best seller House of Secrets , which documents one of the worst cases of child abuse in U.S. history, and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.