Busted In Acadiana

A 23-year-old mother accused of shooting her 3-year-old son and drowning her 4-year-old daughter in the bathtub pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity Wednesday morning according to The Times Picayunne.

Chelsea Thornton, who has a long, well-documented history of mental illness, was found incompetent to stand trial at a hearing in December. She is now being treated at East Louisiana Mental Health System in East Feliciana Parish, in an effort to stabilize her mental condition well enough to proceed with trial.

Meanwhile, an Orleans Parish grand jury indicted Thornton last month on two counts of first-degree murder. The state could pursue a death sentence if she is convicted. 

She was also charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Police allegedly found 42 individually packaged bags of marijuana in her Gert Town apartment when investigating the killings.

Her attorney, Lionel “Lon” Burns, said Wednesday that the drugs belonged to someone else who shared the apartment.

Burns said that his client has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, mood disorders and psychotic behavior. She’d stopped taking her medication, and told a friend in October that she wished to return to a mental hospital.

Days later, she allegedly shot her 3-year-old son in the head and submerged him in the bathtub. She tried to shoot her 4-year-old daughter next, but the gun jammed. So she drowned the child in the bathtub next to her brother’s dead body.

Thornton pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity at her arraignment on Wednesday. She is scheduled to be back in court before Judge Robin Pittman on March 13.