Jury to decide mother's mental health in murder trial

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Otty Sanchez got six weeks in a state mental hospital after she was found wandering around a drug store last year, shopping for an imaginary trip to China.

She got a few hours in an emergency room, then a ride home, in July as a new mom hearing dark voices.

Three-week-old Scott Wesley Buchholz-Sanchez was dead six days later, decapitated and missing fingers and toes, while police say his mother wailed about how the devil made her do it. A judge ruled Thursday that a jury will decide whether Sanchez is mentally competent to stand trial after Sanchez’s attorney said her mental condition is worsening.

“In addition to her psychotic condition, her schizophrenic condition and her postpartum psychotic condition, she may also be affected by post-traumatic stress disorder,” Ed Camara, Sanchez’s attorney, told the court.

Sanchez, 33, is charged with capital murder in the death of her son.