Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: GOLDEN - A woman charged with drugging and suffocating her two small children appeared in court for the first time Monday and was ordered to undergo psychiatric testing. Elizabeth Feltman, 32, had been treated for postpartum depression just before her husband, Wade Feltman, came home April 9 to find the two children dead. He found his wife incoherent in the master bedroom. In a frantic 911 call, Feltman told a dispatcher "I'm guessing it's my wife" when asked if he knew how the children died. He later issued a statement supporting his wife and asking the public not to judge her. On Monday, Elizabeth Feltman was wide-eyed and appeared somewhat disoriented during the 15-minute hearing in Jefferson County District Court. District Judge Ruthanne Polidori ordered her to undergo a competency and sanity evaluation. She was expected to remain at Porter Medical Center, where she has been under psychiatric care since April 9, but the evaluation will be conducted by doctors from the Colorado Mental Health Institute. The doctors' report on Feltman's condition is due in court June 19. The testing will determine whether Feltman is competent to stand trial. If she is, her attorneys likely will use an insanity defense, said legal analyst Andrew Cohen. "There are different degrees of competency, a psychiatrist can conclude she is sane enough to go to trial, but her lawyer can use the insanity defense to help her," Cohen said. "That's the logical defense here, to say, 'Look, no rational reasonable person would contemplate doing such a thing.'" Feltman is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Benjamin, 3, and Moriah, 3 months. She is accused of strangling Benjamin, who was found in the family room, and suffocating Moriah, who was discovered in a bedroom. Evidence of drug toxicity was found in both, and a police affidavit said empty medicine bottles were found on top of the refrigerator. Feltman told police the bottles had pills in them when he left for work April 9. Wade Feltman told police his wife had slipped into a depression shortly after the birth of their daughter. She was hospitalized briefly and given medication for postpartum depression, a psychosis believed to be triggered by hormonal fluctuations after giving birth. She was released from the hospital April 6 after a short stay. ------------- -- Two rules in life: 1. Don't tell people everything you know. 2. Subscribe/Unsubscribe, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the body of the message enter: subscribe/unsubscribe law-issues
