Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Judge About to Sentence Mother Who Drowned 4-Year-Old Son in Bathtub

Aired September 03, 2003 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to begin at a courthouse today in Troy, New York. A judge is about to sentence a mother who drowned her 4-year-old son in a bathtub. A jury last month rejected the insanity defense that Christine Wilhelm is a paranoid schizophrenic suffering from psychotic delusions.
Our Gary Tuchman has been following the case and is awaiting the sentencing, which is to take place just minutes from now.

Gary, good morning.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning to you. And just like the Andrea Yates case in Texas, this trial horrified the nation. Andrea Yates was convicted of drowning five of her children in a bathtub. Well, one month after she was convicted, the woman in this case, Christine Wilhelm tried to drown two of her children in a bathtub. She succeeded with one of them, but the other child escaped and testified against her in this trial. She was found guilty of murder and attempted murder. And today just in minutes, Christine Wilhelm will learn her fate from a judge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Luke was 4 years old and Peter five when their mother tried to kill them both. Christine Wilhelm's defense? That she was a paranoid schizophrenic who did not know right from wrong. She testified on videotape about trying to drown her children in this bathtub.

CHRISTINE WILHELM, CONVICTED MURDERER: Then the next think I know, I'm getting the dog leashes. The kids are in the bathtub, and I put the dog leash around Peter's feet and dunked him under water. He said, "Mommy stop." And he stopped and I stopped. And I took the dog leash off of him and helped him out of the tub and gave him a towel. And he said, "Don't do," you know, "don't do that."

TUCHMAN: Peter survived but his little brother did not; he drowned at the hands of his mother minutes later.

TRISH DEANGELIS, PROSECUTOR: When she killed that beautiful little boy, she knew exactly what she was doing. And she knew it was wrong; so don't let them tell you different.

TUCHMAN: In an unusual and emotional part of the trial, the surviving son testified about what happened that day in April 2002. PETER WILHELM, MOTHER TRIED TO DROWN: Mom tried to drown me because she had a sickness in her mind and she didn't take her whole medication. So she had that problem and she tried to drown me. But instead, she drowned my brother two times.

TUCHMAN: Christine Wilhelm's trial in Troy, New York is reminiscent of the Andrea Yates' case in Houston, in which the Texas mother also used mental illness as a defense but was convicted. And Wilhelm met the same fate after 11 hours of jury deliberations.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As to murder in the first degree, how do you find?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty.

TUCHMAN: The convicted murderer's husband, Ken testified for the prosecution. He now has custody of their son Peter.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN: As you might imagine, it was painful to watch and listen to this little boy testify against his mother. Peter told the jury that after he escaped from the bathtub he just didn't know what to do. I mean he was only 5 years old when this happened. He said he went into another room and watched a video; a video called the "Snow Queen" while his little brother was being drowned.

Little Peter won't be here today for the sentencing but his father, Ken is inside the courtroom behind me. He will give a Victim's Impact Statement along with the prosecutor before the judge decides what the sentence will be. At the very least, Christine Wilhelm will face 30 years in prison. At the most, life in years in prison; but if she gets that maximum sentence, she'll be eligible for parole in 37 years when she's 75 years old.

And we do want to tell you that prosecutors are telling us that Christine Wilhelm will ask the judge for visitation rights. She wants the right to have her son, the boy she tried to drown, visit her in prison. The prosecutors say they will fight that tooth and nail.

Back to you Daryn.

KAGAN: Some day you come to work and you can't believe. You're still shaking your head at some of the stuff, Gary.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




in Bathtub>


Aired September 3, 2003 - 14:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to begin at a courthouse today in Troy, New York. A judge is about to sentence a mother who drowned her 4-year-old son in a bathtub. A jury last month rejected the insanity defense that Christine Wilhelm is a paranoid schizophrenic suffering from psychotic delusions.
Our Gary Tuchman has been following the case and is awaiting the sentencing, which is to take place just minutes from now.

Gary, good morning.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning to you. And just like the Andrea Yates case in Texas, this trial horrified the nation. Andrea Yates was convicted of drowning five of her children in a bathtub. Well, one month after she was convicted, the woman in this case, Christine Wilhelm tried to drown two of her children in a bathtub. She succeeded with one of them, but the other child escaped and testified against her in this trial. She was found guilty of murder and attempted murder. And today just in minutes, Christine Wilhelm will learn her fate from a judge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Luke was 4 years old and Peter five when their mother tried to kill them both. Christine Wilhelm's defense? That she was a paranoid schizophrenic who did not know right from wrong. She testified on videotape about trying to drown her children in this bathtub.

CHRISTINE WILHELM, CONVICTED MURDERER: Then the next think I know, I'm getting the dog leashes. The kids are in the bathtub, and I put the dog leash around Peter's feet and dunked him under water. He said, "Mommy stop." And he stopped and I stopped. And I took the dog leash off of him and helped him out of the tub and gave him a towel. And he said, "Don't do," you know, "don't do that."

TUCHMAN: Peter survived but his little brother did not; he drowned at the hands of his mother minutes later.

TRISH DEANGELIS, PROSECUTOR: When she killed that beautiful little boy, she knew exactly what she was doing. And she knew it was wrong; so don't let them tell you different.

TUCHMAN: In an unusual and emotional part of the trial, the surviving son testified about what happened that day in April 2002. PETER WILHELM, MOTHER TRIED TO DROWN: Mom tried to drown me because she had a sickness in her mind and she didn't take her whole medication. So she had that problem and she tried to drown me. But instead, she drowned my brother two times.

TUCHMAN: Christine Wilhelm's trial in Troy, New York is reminiscent of the Andrea Yates' case in Houston, in which the Texas mother also used mental illness as a defense but was convicted. And Wilhelm met the same fate after 11 hours of jury deliberations.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As to murder in the first degree, how do you find?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty.

TUCHMAN: The convicted murderer's husband, Ken testified for the prosecution. He now has custody of their son Peter.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN: As you might imagine, it was painful to watch and listen to this little boy testify against his mother. Peter told the jury that after he escaped from the bathtub he just didn't know what to do. I mean he was only 5 years old when this happened. He said he went into another room and watched a video; a video called the "Snow Queen" while his little brother was being drowned.

Little Peter won't be here today for the sentencing but his father, Ken is inside the courtroom behind me. He will give a Victim's Impact Statement along with the prosecutor before the judge decides what the sentence will be. At the very least, Christine Wilhelm will face 30 years in prison. At the most, life in years in prison; but if she gets that maximum sentence, she'll be eligible for parole in 37 years when she's 75 years old.

And we do want to tell you that prosecutors are telling us that Christine Wilhelm will ask the judge for visitation rights. She wants the right to have her son, the boy she tried to drown, visit her in prison. The prosecutors say they will fight that tooth and nail.

Back to you Daryn.

KAGAN: Some day you come to work and you can't believe. You're still shaking your head at some of the stuff, Gary.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




in Bathtub>