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Mother Who Poisoned Children Asks For The Death Penalty
Marilyn Edge told a judge she wants to be put to death for killing her children. (Photo from KTLA)
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Marilyn Edge, the mother accused of fatally poisoning her two children, repeatedly asked a judge for the death penalty at her first court hearing Tuesday, KTLA reports.
Edge was arrested September 14 after a failed suicide attempt. She told police about the bodies of her two children at a nearby hotel; she'd poisoned them after losing custody to their father.
She appeared by video from the Central Jail in Santa Ana, where the murders occurred.
Edge was asked about setting an arraignment date and told the judge twice, "Only if you promise me the death penalty."
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"The only death penalty she's been able to achieve successfully has been that of her children," Senior Deputy District Attorney Sonia Balleste told KTLA. She said pursuing the death penalty in this case would be "assessed at the appropriate time."
Edge, who is being held without bail, also faces special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder by poison, which makes her eligible for the death penalty if convicted.
"This is as cold and disturbing a murder as you will see," Balleste told City News Service after the hearing. "It's an incredibly sad situation.''
According to Balleste, Edge told her 13-year-old son Jaelen and 10-year-old daughter Faith that they were going to have some "fun activities'" in California. Edge had been ordered to return the children to their father in Georgia; instead, she went on the run.
Edge's attorney had to persuade her to meet with jail medical and psychiatric staff. She has been under suicide watch since being taken into custody.
Her arraignment was postponed to October 25.
On September 14, police learned of the murders after Edge attempted to ram her car into an electrical box outside a Home Depot store in Costa Mesa. When police arrived, she tried to strangle herself with an electrical cord. Police were able to get her out of the car, when she allegedly told them what she had done to her children.
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Officers found the children's bodies in a room at the Hampton Inn in Santa Ana.
Related:
Mother Who Killed Her 2 Children Was In Custody Dispute
Mother Killed Two Children, Then Tried To Kill Herself
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