Stephanie Rochester, Colo. Mother Accused Of Smothering Her Baby For Having Autism, Will Not Face Murder Charges (VIDEO, UPDATES)

Stephanie Rochester, a 35-year-old Superior, Colo. mother accused of smothering her 6-month-old son because she believed he had autism, will not face first-degree murder and child abuse charges, The Denver Post reports.

Stan Garnett, Boulder County District Attorney, says that he does not think prosecutors would be able to prove that she was sane at the time of the 2010 killing.

Rochester had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, Fox31 reports, and her mental health had been evaluated by two separate doctors. However, last month prosecutors had asked the Colorado Supreme Court to consider allowing a third evaluation from their own medical expert, but the court blocked the additional review.

UPDATE:

According to The Daily Camera, Stephanie Rochester has been found not guilty by reason of insanity, Wednesday. The decision was made after more than an hour of testimony from a psychiatrist that said Rochester saw her son as an "alien, toxic, contaminated being." The psychiatrist also told the Boulder County district judge that Rochester suffered from major depression with psychotic symptoms.

Rochester will be committed to the state mental health hospital until she is determined not to be a danger to herself or others.

EARLIER:

According to the arrest warrant, Rochester told police that she thought her 6-month-old son, Rylan Rochester, "was showing signs of autism" so she attempted to suffocate him with a plastic bag before putting blankets over his head the night before he died, 7News reports.

The affidavit went on to state that Rochester wanted to kill herself, but did not want to "burden her husband with a baby inflicted with autism." For two years Rochester worked as a counselor at the Children's Hospital and had worked with autistic children.

Rochester told detectives that she thought having an autistic child would emotionally and financially “ruin” her life, according to The Daily Camera.

Attorneys on both the prosecution and defense will now present Rochester's insanity evidence to a judge to see if she should be committed to the state mental hospital.

WATCH [via 9News] report when Rochester was first set to appear in court in 2010:

Comments

[eilish]

08:00 PM on 04/11/2012

Having gone through trauma with a stepdaughter (19) all I can say is in what universe does one believe it is better that a child be dead? It's that place where the universally self-centered and self-absorbed live.

My son was mildly autistic, my husband has a grandson who is pretty severely so. In my case the methods we used helped my son to become a successfully functioning adult, cognitive enough to serve as cannon fodder for George Bush and sire children of his own. My grandson is not so fortunate and will never be able to be self-sustaining emotionally, but he is very, very dear nonetheless.

I'd like to believe one would have to be seriously insane to cause the death of their own helpless baby, but life teaches us new horrors all the time.

Secret adoption adoption adoption! Heard the word? Somebody out there wants your theoretically autistic child! I would have been delighted to have the opportunity of raising my little granddaughter.

[gracegmb5]

07:44 AM on 04/10/2012

It's true, animals kill their young but we are not animals. We have choices to commit actions and actions cause reactions. Put her away for the rest of her natural life. That would be enough reaction to satisfy me.

[thatsjun]

02:53 PM on 04/09/2012

If she were this low functioning and doing the ob she did it would have been discovered sooner that she was mentally ill and psychotic. She is self serving and narcissistic which is bad enough but still sane.

[valgonza08]

01:28 PM on 04/09/2012

That's a lot of bull, she is not insane stop defending evil women who choose to get rid or their babies simply because they don't want them. Casey Anthony is out there enjoying the Bella Vita and soon this idiot will too......wait and see.

[Mailman]

10:56 PM on 01/15/2012

Let say she's mental ill, then let put her a mental prison hospital for about 40 years and I think we'll all feel that justice was done.

[wloffredo]

05:45 PM on 01/12/2012

Didn't any of you see that she was psychotic? This is real!!! Mental health problems are a real and serious issue!! SANE people don't kill their babies!

[Jilly Swan]

07:31 PM on 01/12/2012

But evil people do. Not all of them are 'insane'

[mPowerServices]

05:05 PM on 01/12/2012

This sickens me. It has become almost fashionable to simply discard (kill) a child who inconveniences us. What kind of society are we when we think so little of our own offspring?

[brachm5]

02:01 PM on 01/12/2012

Evan animals do not kill their young; this is just murder.

[bigfathen]

03:30 PM on 01/12/2012

Animals kill their young. Ferrets, for example, will often kill and eat their young. You're upset, as we all are about the death of a child, but your ignorance is remarkable, if so very, very common.

[Soldier79]

02:56 PM on 04/09/2012

many animals will kill their young, gerbils, all the way up to lions.

[JustLucky]

02:25 PM on 04/09/2012

Yes, the do, actually - happens all the time.

[cantseeme]

01:52 PM on 01/12/2012

And another door is opened for moms who kill their babies.

[kmcewan007]

01:30 PM on 01/12/2012

what a load of bull

[janmarie0612]

01:25 PM on 01/12/2012

why not let this one go if anybody let casey anthony go enough said the wrong people always set free nowdays & the good always suffer behind bars it is what it is no stones lefted un turn

[sparkly bella]

01:15 PM on 01/12/2012

Fine lock her away in an intuition but before you do make sure to sterilize her so this can NEVER happen again. Does anyone find it fishy that she is also a counselor.....she knows exactly what to do and say to make everyone think she's nuts.

[really people]

01:06 PM on 01/12/2012

So tie her tubes permenantly and no more insane moments. Seems like a perfect way to not become insane again and no pills with side effects.

[jsanske]

12:47 PM on 01/12/2012

Sick people, give the baby up for adoption. Instead, our society believes the mother is the victim...Grow up people, depression is not new, people have been sad since they existed. Now sadness is a reason to kill your child and get away with it. Thank you media, thank you drug companies, you have convinced society that when a child is murdered by their mother, the MOTHER is the victim, NOT THE DEAD BABY!

[insevernapark]

12:37 PM on 01/12/2012

When she is found to not be a danger to anyone, do they just release her from the hospital?

[vcrozas]

01:28 PM on 01/12/2012

Yep and she probably won't be spade either. Soooooo she can have another child and ooooops do it again.

[EagleFliesInSky]

01:01 PM on 01/14/2012

SPADE? What in the world are you talking about?