CLEVELAND — Amber Hill, who drowned her two young daughters in the bathtub of her Cleveland apartment, will be institutionalized indefinitely in a high-security psychiatric clinic.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John Sutula ordered Hill committed to Northcoast Behavioral Healthcare System after a court psychiatrist determined that Hill could pose a risk to herself and others as the gravity of her actions becomes clearer with the help of medication.

Hill will not be allowed to leave her room without authorization and will be chaperoned to and from treatment, said Assistant County Prosecutor Mark Mahoney. Eventually, Hill could be set free or downgraded to a lower-security facility with recommendations from her doctors. But a judge must approve any change in her institutionalization.

Last month, Sutula and Common Pleas Judges Nancy Fuerst and Jose Villanueva found Hill, 23, not guilty by reason of insanity of killing Janelle Cintron, 4, and Cecess Hill, 2.

Hill waived her right to a jury trial. A panel of three judges heard the case because Hill could have faced the death penalty if convicted.

Hill's attorneys argued that their client suffered from such profound mental illness when she drowned the girls on Oct. 1, 2007, that she did not understand that her actions were wrong. Both a forensic psychologist hired by the defense to evaluate Hill and a court psychiatrist testified that Hill's severe depression eventually escalated to a psychotic break from reality when she killed her children.

According to a report prepared by the court psychiatrist after the trial ended, Hill said during a more recent psychiatric evaluation that she does not believe she is still mentally ill and would like to eventually wean herself from the medicine that has stabilized her condition.

The court agreed with the doctor's opinion that Hill does not have a realistic view of her mental illness and would be at high risk for discontinuing her medication.

When given an opportunity to address the court Monday, Hill began by saying she felt "truly blessed to be found not guilty by reason of insanity."

Sutula interrupted her to clarify that the law required that finding, though it was a difficult verdict to render.

"God didn't intervene on that," he told Hill before allowing her to continue. "God didn't intervene on behalf of your children."

Hill sobbed through the rest of her prepared statement in which she apologized to her family and the father of her daughters, Jaime Cintron. She said she has recaptured her faith in God during her 16 month incarceration, and she vowed to take her medication vigilantly for the rest of her life.

Sutula discounted her promises, explaining that he has seen too many cases in which people believed themselves to be "cured" of mental illness and stopped taking their medication, only to relapse.

"If I were in your situation, I would swear to almighty God to take that medication every day of my life," Sutula told Hill. "So you are never in the situation where you feel so horrible that you don't know how to control yourself and take an action that is repugnant to society. My primary concern here is the safety of society. I'm not going to jeopardize that in any way."

Amber Hill not guilty by reason of insanity of murdering her 2 children--she drowned her 2 young daughters in bathtub

Cleveland Plain Dealer

January 25, 2009

Amber Hill will not go to prison for drowning her daughters -- submerging their heads in a bathtub until they stopped thrashing, until their brown eyes stared vacantly from beneath the surface. A 3-judge panel on Friday found Hill not guilty of aggravated murder by reason of insanity.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judges Nancy Fuerst, John Sutula and Jose Villanueva deliberated for four hours before rendering their verdict, which Sutula said was based on "uncontroverted evidence" that Hill suffered from such profound mental illness when she killed her daughters on Oct. 1, 2007, that she did not understand her actions were wrong.

"Justice is not always punishment," Sutula said. "These killings shocked the conscience of every person including this panel. But the law demands that in order to be convicted of a crime, the defendant know its wrongfulness."

Hill, 23, didn't deny killing the girls: Janelle Cintron, 4, and Cecess Hill, 2.

She waived her right to a jury trial. A panel of 3 judges heard the case because Hill could have faced the death penalty if convicted. A hearing will be held in the next 10 days to determine whether Hill will be set free or remanded to a mental health facility.

Prosecutors said the state will push for long-term institutionalization in a secure facility, arguing that Hill poses a threat to herself and others.

Hill's attorneys Fernando Mack and Myron Watson called the verdict courageous.

They said that as Hill's mental state stabilizes on powerful anti-psychotic drugs, they expect she will develop greater insight into the events that brought her to kill her daughters.

"She cared for those children deeply," Watson said. "The real Amber Hill wouldn't have done this but for her severe mental illness."

After the judges announced their decision, Hill's mother, Carolyn Hutchins, sobbed and trembled, as she thanked God for the verdict and clung to other weeping relatives.

She said she knew her daughter was not herself when she killed the girls. And she called for a greater awareness of mental illness in the community.

During their closing arguments, prosecutors asked the judges to set aside the expert testimonies of a psychologist hired by the defense and a court-appointed psychiatrist. Both testified that Hill suffered from severe depression that eventually escalated to a psychotic break from reality when she drowned her children.

Hill made no attempt to conceal evidence or flee after the killings. Instead, she called her boyfriend, Jaime Cintron, who came home and found her sitting on the couch staring blankly ahead in an unresponsive daze.

The lawyers highlighted that even the court-appointed psychiatrist, who reviewed Hill's case on the state's request, said that Hill heard voices that urged her to kill her children.

Assistant County Prosecutor Mark Mahoney said the state decided to prosecute Hill despite the court psychiatrist's diagnosis because it was an important case to the community and deserved the criminal justice system's full attention.

Prosecutors did not call upon a 3rd medical opinion because sanity is always assumed, he said, and the burden is upon the defense to prove the defendant insane.

"We knew it would be a challenging case," Mahoney said, "to have the court set aside the opinion of the court's doctor. But we thought it best to go through the process because of the profound loss to the community of two children of tender age. Could there be a more important case?"

Court psychiatrist says Amber Hill didn't understand killing kids was wrong

By Karl Turner - The Plain Dealer

January 22, 2009

CLEVELAND — Amber Hill suffered with bouts of depression, hallucinations and suicidal thoughts for four years before she drowned her two daughters in a bathtub in her Cleveland apartment.

A psychologist hired by the defense and a court psychiatrist testified Thursday before a three-judge panel in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court that Hill was so deeply depressed the day she killed Janelle Cintron, 4, and Cecess Hill, 2, that she did not understand that what she was doing was wrong.

Hill, 23, is charged with aggravated murder for the girls' deaths and could face the death penalty if convicted. She pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Prosecutors rested their case against Hill Thursday morning -- the third day of the trial which is being decided by the judges, not a jury. The prosecution did not call any witnesses to testify to Hill's sanity. But they have indicated they plan to call two rebuttal witnesses this morning.