Minivan Mom not guilty reason insanity - A 33-year-old South Carolina mother has been exonerated of attempted murder charges for driving her three children into the Atlantic Ocean after she pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in a Florida court on Friday.
Ebony Wilkerson, a mother of four, was adjudged by the court to have been mentally unstable when she attempted to murder three of her children by driving them into the ocean off Daytona Beach in March.
Wilkerson pleaded not guilty to three counts of aggravated child abuse and had the State's charges of attempted murder against her dropped.
Judge Leah Case, who presided over the hearing in a Volusia County courthouse, revealed that three mental health experts had analyzed Wilkerson and found that she was unstable. The judge is set to hear testimonies from experts next week and will decide if Wilkerson will be institutionalized or released under court oversight.
Reports indicate that Wilkerson had travelled to Florida to live with her sister a few days before she drove her kids into the ocean. Prior to making the journey, she had reported to the police that her husband raped her. Only a few hours before she drove her kids into the ocean in her minivan, Wilkerson was been interviewed by cops after her sister reported that she was having a mental breakdown.
The minivan mom's not guilty verdict has made headlines all over the country. Legal experts say insanity pleas are rarely successful in these types of cases.
Her children, aged 10, 9 and 3, escaped the incident unharmed. Wilkerson, who was pregnant at the time of the incident, has since delivered her fourth child while in custody. The child has reportedly been put under the care of his father. Meanwhile, she has been allowed to write letters to her 3 other kids, who have been placed under the care of the State since the incident.
Although the minivan mom has been released from custody since May, she has been barred from having contact with her kids.
