UPDATE: Amber Hill Found ‘Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity’
On Friday, January 23rd, 2009, a three-judge panel in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Common Pleas Court determined that 23-year-old Amber Hill suffered from a severe mental disorder when she drowned her two daughters on October 1st, 2007.
“The court concludes she did not know the wrongfulness of her horrific acts,” said Judge John Sutula.
She’ll stay in jail, where’s she’s been since the night of the murders, until a hearing to decide whether she should be committed to a State Mental Institution. The date of the hearing hasn’t been set yet.
Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Mark Mahoney said the state believed Hill should be hospitalized.
“We will argue she is a danger to herself and others and that she be committed to a psychiatric institution,” he said.
Judge Sutula said evidence from both the court’s forensic psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist obtained by the defense concluded that Hill had suffered from “a major depressive disorder with psychotic features.”
Defense attorney Fernando Mack had said Hill heard voices telling her to “do it, do it” on the day the children died.
A forensic pathologist in the Cuyahoga County coroner’s office had testified that marks on the older girl’s neck indicated she may have struggled and was strangled.
Carolyn Hutchins, Hill’s mother, said she thanked God for the verdict.
“Now my daughter can get some help,” she said. During the trial, Hutchins had testified that she wanted to take her daughter to a hospital for mental health counseling before the children died.
Mack said Hill had since been medicated and was functioning well.
“She was a good mother,” said the defense attorney Myron Watson. “She cared for those children. Those children were the center of her life.”
What this all means in laymen’s terms is that Amber Hill will not be tried for murdering her daughters, 4-year-old Janelle Cintron and 2-year-old Cecess Hill. Instead, this three-judge panel found her not guilty by reason of insanity. Technically, she is now a free woman, but the State is claiming she is a danger to herself and others and has asked for a hearing in order to commit her to a State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, hopefully for a very long period of time. It is possible however, that psychiatrists could decide she’s no longer dangerous and release her anytime. It’s happened many times before, and the only way to be sure it won’t happen this time is for the citizens of Ohio to be vigilant. If, of course, that’s what they want.
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That’s sad.
Great work on the update!:-) That’s a real shame, if her mom knew Amber was disturbed why didn’t she do more to help?
It makes me think that the grandmother should be found guilty of the murders if she knew her daughter was sick and allowed her to keep the kids still knowing she was hearing voices… I’m not convinced she did hear them, but to many people get away with sitting on their asses while children are killed…. It’s time this bullshit stops and Ohio needs to set the law so if your found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity then it’s life in a mental hospital… How else you going to make sure the public is safe?
Mom says she “wanted” to get her help, but what’s that saying? “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” You know Lena, the old CMOA (Cover My Own Ass) shuffle.
I just don’t know how these people do this stuff, even with mental illness. I understand the mess that goes on in yhour head to an extent – I have BPD and stress/anxiety disorder, I have suffered chronic clinical depression and I have been treated many times in the past 20 years. My mom has bipolar – she’s a bad example because she is ne of the worst abusers I have ever encountered, but still, killing? It just doesn’t make sense to me. I have a partial degree in psych, I read the case studies, I just cannot grasp it.
Help? Yes, she certainly needs that and I think she should not be able to have or be around children ever again if she’s that ill. If her family knew then they’re sick too, even if the shrinks say they aren’t. How could they let this happen? Weren’t there any warning signs at all? I guess I had to be there.
Maybe I wouldn’t sentence this chick to burn but I can’t muster any sympathy for her either. I get stressed, to the point of wanting to pull my hair out or go catatonic in a corner, but kill them? Never. Not in a million years, I’d rather kill myself than the innocent babies…
jGrrl, I think you nailed it right on the head. There is a marketed difference from someone with a mental illness who is harmful toward others versus themselves. It only proves further that there are inherently evil people out there. This girl knew she was harming her children, I am convinced of it. I dont buy her excuses for one second. Maybe in the hospital she’ll get some shampoo so that she can wash her nasty hair.
I sooo agree with you, anyone who is willing to kill an innocent child obviously is not coming together with reality but I believe good moms also realize that hurting their babies is wrong! Now a days with all the different help lines and centers, she could have done something and the grandmother should have said something, have a depressive disorder doesn’t make you a bad mother or person, not seeking help when you see the warning signs and hurting your children does !
I am ok with the insanity defense. Seriously. What I am not OK with is that she ever be allowed to walk the streets again. If she is so mentally ill as to have killed her kids, she needs to be put somewhere where she can be protected and taken care of.
IMO if one is THAT insane, there is no treatment for them, therefore, there is no way to prevent her from being a danger to herself or others, therefore she should be removed from society.
I’m feeling way to…normal? Uh, all I have is…Okay, she deserves to be free? She was found not guilty…by reason of insanity?
I’m sorry, I mean it explains why she would do such a thing, witnesses say she loved the kids, her entire universe centered around them. Not all child murders have witnesses that could attest to that. So that’s a valid point to me.
The only thing that irritates me about the justice system in this one, is this determination process on when she gets out…Who is in charge of that? The staff at the Crazy Place, the loony bin?
What makes them qualified to determine what life this murderer gets to have?
They got the building right, but the sentencing all wrong. Okay, I guess I’m in. Vigilant justice it is. :) But again, it wasn’t personal, she killed her kids out of crazy, not anger. So who pulls the plug? You? I guess I am out. Beotch walks. In gods hands?
What happen to GUILTY by reason of insanity. Just because she was obviously crazy doesnt mean she doesnt desereve punishment.
I agree with you Penny. Many people have problems with mental health…not all of them kill their children. While i wouldnt give her the death penalty, she still needs to be locked up to keep herself and others safe. And i hope she never has any other children.
On another note…HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY to all the Aussies reading today.
Yep. I don’t care if they lock her up in prison or a mental health facility- whichever works- but she doesn’t need to be back out on the streets to get knocked up again.
But we all KNOW she will be on the street again – there’s not enough money, not enough rooms, not enough care givers, not enough family support, not enough CARING, and wayyyyy too much stignatism for all the people who need help and aren’t getting it. The pressures of the world today are getting to the weakest of us with the ugliest results. Such a helpless feeling.
“Now my daughter can get some help,” she said. During the trial, Hutchins had testified that she wanted to take her daughter to a hospital for mental health counseling before the children died.”
I’ve got some help fop her. All in the form of dull razor blades and piss. I’ll give her mommy the same treatment.
Insane???? Insane is killing your kids. Insane is being a mother and covering your own fat ass instead of being bothered by protecting your grandchildren!
Fellow Readers: This insanity defence is scientifically proven to be legitimate and admissible in court, but please. There is not a fine line between right and wrong – nuturing your children=right, disciplining your children=right, strangling your children while holding them underwater=wrong. Even a chimp has the mental capacity to understand such parameters.
Children do misbehave, but at what point does having your hands wrapped around their tiny fragile necks while they struggle for breath correct their actions?
Even parents that are “spankers” feel bad about smacking their child’s bottom – Amber Hill doesn’t deserve to breath free-air ever again.
I must still be tired… I thought you were telling me to neuter my kids… Anyway, I agree with your post!
Great point! Not even chimps kill their babies…on the other hand, they’ll kill to protect their young!
BITCH! ROT IN HELL!!!
There are involuntary commitment laws in every state. If Amber had indicated in any way to her mother that she was having thoughts to her herself or her children, her mother could have filed an involuntary commitment petition and Amber could have been admitted to a psy unit for at least 3 days to be evaluated by a psychiatrist and placed on medication. In the very least, she could have taken Amber to a crisis unit in the local community mental health center for an evaluation. What a tragedy this did not happen. The other tragedy is that once Amber is released from the mental health facility (which she will be–they are more expensive than prison), she’ll likely do what the majority of people who suffer from any type of psychotic disorder do–stop taking the prescribed medication. In which case, she’ll become sick again and hurt someone else. Amber belongs in a special needs ward in a prison–where she can live out the rest of her life in a supervised setting with medication administered–and where getting out is not an option.
Oh, I so agree with everyone’s comments above!
Crazy or not, I think she should have to still do her time somewhere. There is no justice for these little girls.
Amber, the eyes hurt to cry. It stings, and it burns.
The well runs dry one day and no more tears, only blood.
If she was depressed and unstable i have no problem with her killing herself. But she didnt, While she is alive and well and getting ‘help’ her kids are six foot under. The bitch deserves to burn.
“If, of course, that’s what they want.”
What they should want is fer her not to have anymore babies.
Judge should order sterilaztion if and when they plan to release her from the mental hospital.
I’m from Cincinnati, and I remember when this broke. These people who kill their children get nothing half the time. People pat them on the head, and talk about how much THEY’VE suffered, how depressed they were. “We were going to get her help.” Really? When? What was going to be the defining moment that made you get off your ass and actually do something?
BULLSHIT. That sheboon knew what she was doing. Godamn it people insanity is no reason at all. That bitch need to burn in hell after a beating by the armys of hate.
All kids no matter the skin color should ever be hurt AT ALL.
Some of you might not realize that once someone is considered not guilty by reason of insanity, it is up to the doctors to determine when they are fit to go back into society. Which is normally around 10 years.
If you look up articles about people who get out of mental institutions, they almost always end up hurting someone again. This shit has got to stop.
If you’re insane and you kill someone in cold blood, you should be put down like Cujo. There are too many sane people who need help to waste time with people so damaged they kill.
Unfortunately, the bleeding hearts are drowning us in insane murderers who should be ‘helped’ because they’re ‘human’. Amber Hill is not human by my standards. She is an insane monster who doesn’t need to be reintegrated into society. Ever.
This crazy bi t ch should be drowned just like she killed those two beautiful little girls…i am so sick of these da mn people using the insanity defense when their azz is on the line…