Mother accused in kids' shotgun deaths apologizes

[November 22, 2011]  BELLEVILLE. (AP) -- An Illinois woman accused in the shotgun deaths of two of her children says in a jailhouse letter to a judge that she was hearing voices the day of the killings and is "truly sorry."

The Belleville News-Democrat (http://bit.ly/s3imdz) reports that 25-year-old Yokeia Smith told St. Clair County Circuit Judge Milton Wharton she believed police were after her even before the Aug. 31 killings.

Smith's attorney wants to have Smith tested to gauge her mental fitness for trial on first-degree murder counts in the deaths of the children, ages 5 and 4.

Authorities say the victims were killed in the family's East St. Louis apartment. Smith later was arrested in St. Louis after hitting two pedestrians.

She has pleaded not guilty and is jailed without bail.

[Associated Press]

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