Mother who threw sons into San Fran Bay to plead insanity

A mother who claimed she was sacrificing her young sons to God by tossing them into the San Francisco Bay could avoid prison time if a judge finds she was insane at the time of their deaths.

Lawyers for Lashuan Harris, 24, planned to present an insanity defence today in a bid to spare her from a possible life sentence and instead have her sent to a mental hospital.

They argue that Harris is schizophrenic and borderline mentally retarded, and that she was convinced she was sending her children to heaven when she drowned them on October 19, 2005.

“Mental illness is complicated. The criminal justice system is not the forum to treat the severely mentally ill,” defence attorney Teresa Caffese said.

Yesterday, a jury found Harris guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of six-year-old Treyshun Harris, two-year-old Taronta Greeley Jr and 16-month-old Joshoa Greeley.

She was previously acquitted of first-degree murder.

In a videotaped confession, Harris described struggling with two of the boys as she stripped them and plunged them into the bay in an area where tourists stroll along the waterfront.

Her youngest child laughed, thinking it was a game.