Left: Tiffanie Lucas with sons Jayden and Maurice (Celine Tiffanie Ann/Facebook): Right: Lucas pictured during a court appearance wearing jail orange (WHAS).
A Kentucky mother charged with murdering her two young sons, ages 6 and 9, by shooting them in the head in a bedroom at home in November 2023 will attempt to fight the case at trial by arguing that she was legally insane at the time.
Tiffanie Ann Katherine Lucas has been in custody in Bullitt County since Nov. 8, when she was booked into jail and charges with murdering sons Maurice “Peanut” Baker Jr. and Jayden Howard by shooting the children at their Shepherdsville home. On that day, she’s accused of firing four shots in 30 seconds and then claiming that “it was an accident.” At the same time, she allegedly told authorities she was “being manipulated through Facebook, through the internet or through Wi-Fi […] into doing what she did,” raising questions about her mental state that remain relevant to this day.
Kentucky law notes that if a defendant, like Lucas, intends to pursue an insanity defense the defendant must file “written notice of his or her intention at least ninety (90) days before trial,” after which point prosecutors would be “granted reasonable time to move for examination” of her by a psychologist or psychiatrist.
According to WHAS, Lucas’ defense has formally notified the court of the intended insanity defense while not challenging her competency to stand trial.
In short, the defense is not arguing that Lucas didn’t commit the shooting, but that she is not criminally culpable because she was not legally sane at the time.
In comments to the local ABC affiliate, Baker’s stepmom Michelle Rice and an aunt both said there’s no way the shooting was an “accident” and that it’s “not mental illness” that’s to blame. Rather, Lucas “knew what she did” and knew that it was wrong, Rice reportedly said.
The case is currently on track for trial in December, eight days before Christmas, and it’s unclear if the insanity defense will impact potential for a plea deal.
The Bullitt County Sheriff’s Office has said that a neighboring husband and wife saw Lucas lying down in their driveway on the morning of the slayings and the man called 911 after discovering the shocking scene inside the suspect’s home. Lucas had allegedly told the neighbors her “kids were dying.”
Days later, a detective testified that Lucas, under questioning, remarked “I’m in such a bad spot,” claimed the shooting was an accident, said “I’m so stupid,” and claimed she “would never do anything like this unless someone manipulated me.”
The killings left the community and the victims’ family shaken and demanding answers.
After the shooting, Bullitt County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Col. Alex Payne said that Maurice and Jayden had different fathers. It was later reported that Jayden’s father died in 2019.
Lucas, who reportedly once served a month in jail in a drug possession case, had already raised concerns about her ability to parent, one family friend has said.
“I feel like our system failed them,” JoDee Estes previously told WDRB .
“There comes a time when you have to listen to when people try to tell the authorities instead of the authorities just putting it away or not wanting to you know, listen to the family members,” Estes reportedly said, adding later: “And the family is going to blame themselves for the rest of their lives for this and they should not have to.”
Estes appeared to reference reporting about Durrell Howard, the victims’ older brother, telling the media that family members had called Child Protective Services about Lucas in recent years.
“I should have did more,” a heartbroken Durrell Howard reportedly told WLKY. “If it came to me snatching the boys out of the house, I should have and I will hold that on my back for the rest of my life. For both them boys.”
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