SAN FRANCISCO — A young mother who claimed she tossed her three young sons in San Francisco Bay to send them to heaven was declared criminally insane Wednesday by a judge whose decision spared her a possible life sentence.
The rare ruling came a day after a jury found LaShuan Harris, 24, guilty of second-degree murder in the 2005 drownings of her three boys.
The decision voids the jury verdicts, and Harris will be sent to a mental hospital indefinitely instead of state prison. She can be released if doctors ever find her legally sane.
"Yesterday there was no justice," defense attorney Teresa Caffese said. "Yesterday it was about the law. Today there was justice."
The defense argued that Harris was schizophrenic and borderline mentally retarded and that she was convinced she was acting on orders from God when she threw 6-year-old Trayshawn Harris, 2-year-old Taronta Greely Jr. and 16-month-old Joshua Greely into the chilly waters.
A spokeswoman said District Attorney Kamala Harris did not oppose the defense's efforts to have LaShuan Harris committed rather than jailed. And prosecutor Linda Allen did not offer any additional evidence countering the defense position.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ksenia Tsenin agreed with the defense, saying Harris "was incapable of knowing or understanding the quality of her acts."
In a 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 child laughed, thinking it was a game.
Harris knew they couldn't swim but said she thought she was sending them to heaven. God had commanded her to sacrifice them, her most precious possessions, Harris later told psychiatrists. Passers-by said she seemed dazed, disoriented.
Police caught up with her as she calmly walked down the pier pushing the empty stroller. Only one boy's body was found.
Harris was put in a mental 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 did not believe the warning because Harris was such a good mother, according to the defense.
Several jurors — prohibited from considering her mental state in the guilt portion of the trial — said they were relieved the judge found her not guilty by reason of insanity.
"We want this woman to get the help she needs," juror Chuck O'Grady said.
Harris will return to court Feb. 7 to determine where she will be sent.