Judge: No estate rights for NY mom who killed kids
![Leatrice Brewer: Leatrice Brewer is seen in this 2003 arrest photo provided by the Nassau County Police Department. Brewer drowned her three children in 2008 and is now seeking a piece of their estate.]({"default":"http://newsbcpcol.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/67/885381a031f6ee4c9aaf12ddc2f4f/_h353_w628_m6_otrue_lfalse.jpg"})
AP Photo: Nassau County Police Department![AP]({"default":"http://newsbcpcol.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/e3/12e7ff08bf55a6d7449b766b4e23c/_h17_w0_m6_otrue_lfalse.jpg"}){kind=small}
By Frank Eltman of Associated Press
Attorney Peter Kelly had said Leatrice Brewer was seeking a share of the children's $350,000 estate as a way of blocking their fathers from getting the money.
MINEOLA, N.Y. — A judge says a New York woman who drowned her three children in 2008 is not entitled to a share of their estate.
The ruling was made Wednesday in the case of Leatrice Brewer.
Attorney Peter Kelly had said she was seeking a share of the children's $350,000 estate as a way of blocking their fathers from getting the money.
Brewer's bid hinged on whether New York's "Son of Sam" law that bars criminals from profiting from their crimes applied to her case. But the judge at the Long Island hearing had noted that because she was never convicted, Brewer might not be subject to the law.
Brewer, 33, slashed her daughter's throat before drowning her and two younger brothers in 2008, believing she was saving them from the deadly effects of voodoo. Hours after the killings, she survived two suicide attempts — swallowing a concoction of home cleaning fluids and later jumping out a second-story window.
She was found not guilty because of mental disease or defect in the deaths of the children, ages 1, 5 and 6, and was committed to a state psychiatric hospital.
The money comes from lawsuits the fathers settled with Nassau County over claims that social services workers failed to properly monitor Brewer.
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