NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio (Court TV) — An Amish mother accused of drowning her young son in an Ohio lake faces trial this week without a jury.
Ruth Miller, the woman accused of killing her 4-year-old son pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. (Scripps News Cleveland)
Ruth Miller has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to multiple charges, including aggravated murder and felonious assault. Rather than face a jury, she has opted for a bench trial, which means the judge alone will decide her fate.
Prosecutors say Miller drowned her 4-year-old son before attempting to drive a golf cart into the water with her three teenage children onboard. Body camera videos recorded by responding officers show Miller telling them, “I gave my son to God,” and that her husband “was at the bottom of the lake, had been swallowed by a fish.”
Miller’s attorneys have argued that she was suffering from severe mental illness, and said at a previous hearing that Miller has been receiving counseling and medication while behind bars.
The Court expects the trial to last only one day.
