Prosecutors and public defenders are still waiting for police to turn over evidence in the case of an East Haven mom accused of killing her two young children and slitting her own wrists.
Tejas Bhatt, an assistant public defender for the New Haven Judicial District, said state police are "delayed in turning over some information" that will allow the defense to decide whether to hold or waive a probable cause hearing for LeRoya D. Moore.
Moore, 36, has been charged with murdering her 6- and 7-year-old children in their New Haven home in June. Police found her with cuts on her wrists and said the kids' bodies were lying next to an apparent suicide note penned by Moore.
"I couldn’t leave any more of my kids to the system… They were in pain and now they’re in heaven. I prayed and God knows my heart, he made me the way I am and knew we weren’t fit for this work past this time," Moore allegedly wrote.
She has been charged with two counts of murder and three counts of first-degree reckless endangerment. It's not clear how Moore will plead, but attorneys said last month they were weighing an insanity defense.
Bhatt, who is representing Moore, said a state police backlog has prevented the court from proceeding with the case.
"Until we (her attorneys) see all the evidence that the prosecution has in its possession and all that we are entitled to receive, we cannot make a decision on whether to conduct a hearing in probable cause or to waive it," Bhatt explained Monday in an email to NBC Connecticut.
Local
According to the warrant for her arrest, Moore opened the gas line June 2 at her home on Strong Street, flooding the house with natural gas.
A medical examiner said her children suffered "blunt force trauma and puncture wounds" and died of an antihistamine overdose.
Police searching the home found 46 bottles of over-the-counter and prescription medication, including painkillers, sleep aids, muscle relaxers and antidepressants, according to the warrant.
"I’m sure there’s an expert somewhere that will say the children suffered, but I let them know they were loved very much and they were going to heaven. We said the Lord’s Prayer to protect their souls I know this was meant to end the way it did. I don’t know why, but we were meant to die today," Moore wrote in the apparent suicide note.
According to the arrest warrant, Moore has been in trouble with the law before.
At the time she allegedly killed her children, Moore was facing unrelated charges of third-degree assault and second-degree breach of peace. She has been previously convicted of reckless endangerment, risk of injury to a minor, breach of peace, failure to appear, failure to insure a motor vehicle, interfering with police, violation of probation, criminal impersonation and failure to appear, the warrant states.
Police said Moore is a felon who has served prison time. She has been investigated by the Department of Children and Families since 1997, causing her to lose custody of her three oldest children.
"My older kids escaped the same fate because I was too depressed to move and make it happen," Moore allegedly wrote in the suicide note.
Moore is being held on $2 million bond.
Bhatt said he believes state police are busy and that the delay is not usual.