Hang 'em high.
Posted on 12/11/2003 7:35:59 PM PST by hotpotato
CLINTON, Ill. Dec. 11 — A woman accused of drowning her three young children in a car submerged in a lake had asked her mother to take custody of two of them just months before their deaths, the mother said Thursday.
Two hours after Amanda Hamm cried as a judge read the first-degree murder charges against her, her mother, Ann Danison, said she couldn't help but wonder if she could have averted the tragedy.
"She was my only child. My only grandkids. I don't have any more," Danison said, her voice breaking. "And I'll never have them."
Six-year-old Christopher Hamm, 3-year-old Austin Brown and 23-month-old Kyleigh Hamm drowned Sept. 2 when the car they were in plunged off a boat ramp into Clinton Lake. Hamm and her boyfriend, Maurice Lagrone Jr., were on the lakeshore when rescuers arrived.
Hamm, 27, and Lagrone, 28, are charged with first-degree murder and appeared in court separately Thursday. Neither entered a plea, and each remains in custody on $5 million bond.
Her knees shaking, Hamm cried and wiped her eyes as a judge read the charges against her and told her she could be eligible for the death penalty. Lagrone stood motionless with his hands behind his back.
Speaking to The Associated Press in her home, Danison said she "hurt for" Hamm when she saw her in court, "but at the same time I was mad, too."
Danison said she believes Hamm is guilty but that Lagrone somehow "brainwashed" her into believing she was doing the right thing.
"Amanda is not a violent person. What she did was wrong. I can't accept what happened," Danison said.
Danison said Hamm had asked her to care for two of her sons so she could move to St. Louis with Lagrone. But Danison told her she could take only Christopher.
Kyleigh's father also said he knew Hamm wanted to move. "She didn't think she could take all the kids with her, but I never thought anything would happen," Shane Senters told WCIA-TV of Champaign.
Authorities have refused to disclose a motive in the case, although they say they have one and that it doesn't involve life insurance money. The case is being handled by a special prosecutor because Danison is the office manager for the state's attorney.
Hamm's court-appointed attorney, Steve Skelton, said he may ask to move the trial from Clinton, a central Illinois town of about 7,500. "The massive amount of media coverage makes a fair and impartial trial in the current venue unlikely," he said.
Lagrone has not yet hired an attorney.
Danison described her daughter as a high school dropout who had been treated for alcohol abuse but who seemed to calm down after becoming a mother.
"Amanda's a very depressed person, low self-esteem, very insecure. But she'd laugh with the kids. She always had a great Christmas for them. ... She'd plan for their birthdays," Danison said.
Danison said she didn't approve of Lagrone because he couldn't hold a job and wouldn't care for the children, although he played with them.
Preliminary hearings were set for Jan. 7.
Um, did you read the article?
So9
Hang 'em high.
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