An Irving mother who smothered her two children was found guilty Wednesday of capital murder.
It took the jury less than an hour to reach a verdict for Madison McDonald, who remained still alongside her defense team while the decision was read aloud, according to Fox 4.
McDonald was given an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole.
McDonald had confessed to killing her two children, ages 1 and 6, at her Valley Ranch apartment in April 2021. The defense argued that McDonald was not aware of her actions because she was in the throes of mental illness.
McDonald was under the unsubstantiated belief that her children were being abused and said she would do whatever necessary to protect them, even “eliminate them.”
Child Protective Services (CPS) found no evidence of any abuse following an investigation.
McDonald’s defense team had entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
During the course of the trial — which took a week — a recording of McDonald’s 911 phone call was played for the jurors. She reportedly made the call from inside the Irving Police Department.
“I sedated them and smothered them to protect them from our family that is putting them in child porn,” McDonald said during the 911 call.
Afterward, the bodies of her two children were found by police in her apartment.
Julie Kidd, McDonald’s mother, testified during the trial that her daughter had a mental illness and had become increasingly disconnected from reality.
“I had had multiple conversations with my daughter that morning which were very manic in nature, statements, words, accusations, very negative, very hateful,” Kidd said via Fox 4.
Other testimony from CPS, doctors, and police officers made mention of McDonald’s state of mind and included details of her mental illness, which included bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
One psychiatrist, Dr. Lisa Clayton, said McDonald was “essentially manic” during the time of the murders.
McDonald told police at the Irving Police Department in a video per NBC DFW that she deserved to be arrested and serve a prison sentence.
State witness and clinical forensic psychologist Dr. Kristi Compton said, “Turning oneself in indicates awareness and knowledge that one did wrong and that it’s some sort of crime,” per NBC DFW.
