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Laurel Schlemmer is escorted to the courtroom of Judge Jeffrey A. Manning for her sentencing Wednesday.
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McCandless woman who drowned two sons sentenced to 30 to 80 years in prison

Lake Fong/Post-Gazette

McCandless woman who drowned two sons sentenced to 30 to 80 years in prison

No one talked about the boys.

Luke and Daniel.

No one said whether they liked Legos or Hot Wheels.

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Whether they liked soccer or baseball or hockey.

Allegheny County sheriff's deputies escort Laurel Schlemmer to the Allegheny County Courthouse on Thursday.
Paula Reed Ward
A mother's belief her sons had disabilities led to their drowning deaths

If they liked books or music. Dogs or cats.

In fact, no one even said their names — not once — until the hearing where their mother was sentenced to serve 30 to 80 years in prison for killing them had concluded.

And then, it wasn’t one of the boys’ relatives. It was Mike Manko, the spokesman for the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office, who tried to humanize the 3- and 6-year-olds during a statement to the media.

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“I wanted to make sure people knew the names of Daniel and Luke Schlemmer, the two boys who are no longer with us as a result of this crime,” Mr. Manko said. “It’s almost inconceivable that their names were not mentioned during the sentencing hearing.

“We lost two young boys as a result of this crime. We will never know what they could have amounted to, what they could have accomplished and what wonderful lives they probably would have led if not for the actions of this defendant.”

Laurel Michelle Schlemmer, 44, was sentenced Wednesday after being found guilty — but mentally ill — of two counts of third-degree murder in March. She killed her sons on April 1, 2014.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning, who presided over the non-jury trial, gave Schlemmer 15 to 40 years in prison for each child. The sentences run consecutively.

“The sentence that will be imposed is a de facto life sentence — as it should be for the taking of two innocent lives,” he said.

Judge Manning found that at the time Schlemmer committed the crimes, she was not capable of forming the specific intent to kill. That reduced her criminal responsibility from first- to third-degree murder, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 to 40 years in prison.

Experts testified at trial that Schlemmer had been diagnosed with anxiety, depression and dissociate episodes.

In the months leading up to her crime, she expressed extreme anxiety that her two youngest sons would face such severe problems in the future that she believed they would be better off in heaven.

The morning of April 1, 2014, after taking her oldest son, Joshua, to the bus stop, Schlemmer changed her two youngest boys from their pajamas, put them in the family bathtub and held them down until they died.

On Wednesday, wearing glasses and a red jail uniform, Schlemmer calmly read to the court from a typed statement, saying she accepted full responsibility for “the tragedy.”

“No one could be more grieved than me,” she said. “I wish with all my heart I could undo the harm and have our precious boys back.

“It tears me up every day that I cannot fix this.”

Schlemmer thanked the court for ordering her to Torrance State Hospital and talked about how she has confronted her mental illness and is recovering. She said she takes her medication “religiously.”

Schlemmer was discharged from Torrance with diagnoses of major depressive disorder, dissociative disorder not otherwise specified with psychosis, generalized anxiety disorder with obsessive rumination, psychiatric disorder not otherwise specified and obsessive compulsive personality disorder.

“The person who committed these acts was not the real me,” she said. “My pattern of living was very good for 40 years, but that is being overshadowed by the tragedy that I caused.”

Schlemmer told Judge Manning about her work in her church and said she would like to become a productive member of society again — including by using her master’s degree to work in adult literacy.

“My favorite years of my life were those when I was a good, healthy mom,” she said.

Schlemmer’s husband, Mark, sat in the front row of the gallery, dressed in a gray suit and burgundy patterned tie. He did not testify and showed no emotion or reaction throughout the 34-minute hearing.

Her defense attorney, Michael Machen, called two witnesses to speak on his client’s behalf — one, a friend of more than 20 years; the other, the best man at her wedding.

Annette Wu testified that in letters she’s exchanged with Schlemmer, the woman has expressed remorse for her actions and is “dedicated to getting better.

“She has been through a tremendous amount of pain.”

In his argument to the court, Mr. Machen focused on Schlemmer’s mental illness in the months leading up to the crime.

“There was no one to help Laurel Michelle Schlemmer,” he said. “She did not know where to go.”

He continued, “Maybe if there was someone to talk to.”

Judge Manning noted that a recent mental health evaluation from the jail showed that Schlemmer, who has been taking her medications, was exhibiting no signs of any mental illness or cognitive deficits, and that she rated her mood a seven out of 10, with 10 being the best.

Assistant District Attorney Lisa Pellegrini had no witnesses to call on behalf of the victims.

“In my 18 years as a homicide prosecutor, I have never stood at a sentencing hearing and not had a single person to come forward and speak and give a victim-impact statement,” she said. “Everything is about this loving, caring, remorseful woman.”

Ms. Pellegrini continued, “If she’s truly remorseful — a mother who murdered her children — how could she be a seven out of 10?”

A year before the drownings, on April 16, 2013, Schlemmer tied both Daniel and Luke up with twine, laid them behind the wheels of her minivan and drove over their torsos, three times — in reverse, forward and reverse again.

The boys, seriously injured, were then taken by her and her father to UPMC Cranberry. Luke had a broken jaw, ankle and lacerated liver. Daniel’s pelvis was broken.

No criminal charges were filed against Schlemmer in that instance, and no case file was ever opened by Allegheny County Children, Youth and Families.

Days later, when Schlemmer told her husband, Mark, that she struck the boys on purpose, he expressed concerns about her mental health. But, he testified at trial, he never sought psychiatric help for her, and instead sent her to the family physician and did not allow her to be home alone with the children for several weeks.

After her arrest on the homicide charges, Schlemmer was sent to Torrance on April 16, 2014. She attempted suicide by strangulation five weeks later, and twice more in subsequent months.

As part of the support shown to his client, Mr. Machen submitted to the court more than a dozen letters from college friends, family friends and members of Schlemmer’s church and Bible study.

“Michelle is a true example of a Godly woman,” wrote Lynn Foy. “She brought so much love, compassion and knowledge of her faith to our group.”

Ms. Foy wrote that when she first heard that Schlemmer had killed her sons, she believed it had to be a mistake.

“There was no way that could have been the Michelle I know,” Ms. Foy continued. “Something very wrong happened that terrible Tuesday morning.”

Letter after letter described Schlemmer as kind, compassionate, a devoted mother and a woman who would never purposefully harm anyone.

“She would not, and does not, have the capacity of her own self, aside from mental illness, to harm another human being, be it physically or emotionally,” wrote Jennifer Martino, who met Schlemmer in college.

The letters revealed, too, the struggle Schlemmer had caring for her mother, who had developed dementia, as well as sorrow Schlemmer felt after her crimes.

“She has communicated remorse for her actions through letters written to me from the hospital and jail,” wrote Jacqueline Flaker. “Her concern is for her family.”

Paula Reed Ward: pward@post-gazette.com, 412-263-2620 or on Twitter @PaulaReedWard.

First Published: September 13, 2017, 6:54 p.m.
Updated: September 13, 2017, 7:32 p.m.

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Laurel Schlemmer is escorted to the courtroom of Judge Jeffrey A. Manning for her sentencing Wednesday.  (Lake Fong/Post-Gazette)
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