Judge finds Pensacola mom who overdosed child to 'see Jesus' not guilty by reason of insanity

After a short judge trial Friday, a Pensacola mother who intentionally overdosed her child on prescription medication was found not guilty of aggravated child abuse by reason of insanity.

Alexandria Weinrich, 30, was found to be legally insane when she intentionally caused her child to overdose Sept. 10, 2022, on Abilify and Clonidine pills that were prescribed to Weinrich.

"Obviously, the parties have stipulated to all of this, but I do actually have to review it and make sure the evidence does support it and there is no contradicting evidence in this case" said Escambia Circuit Judge Jennie Kinsey during the trial. "Therefore, I am going to find that Ms. Weinrich is not guilty by reason of insanity."

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Weinrich's attorney, Ted Stokes, referenced a psychological evaluation report that stated Weinrich truly believed she was doing what was right by overdosing the child so they both could "go to heaven" and to "see Jesus."

Assistant State Attorney Nathaniel Sebastian told the court that the state would not seek to disprove the psychological evaluation deeming Weinrich was not aware she was doing something wrong.

During the trial, Sebastian called Escambia Sheriff's Deputy Brian Allaire as a witness for being the responding deputy to the hospital the day of the incident.

While on the stand, he said Weinrich's child needed her stomach pumped to "save her," before she was discharged the same day. He also said medical staff couldn't find pills in her system because Weinrich had the child chew up all the pills.

Allaire was the only witness called during the trial.

After Kinsey made her ruling, she determined what would happen next to Weinrich. Under Florida law, there a three things a judge can do after a defendant is found not guilty by insanity: commit the defendant to the Department of Children and Families, commit the defendant to an outpatient facility or discharge the defendant.

Stokes told the court he believed Weinrich could benefit from moving to an outpatient facility since she's continued to take her medications while in Escambia County Jail, but Sebastian said she ought to be committed to DCF.

"There's no evidence (she's stabilized). In Dr. Benson's report he recounts an incident in 2017 that's very similar to this," Sebastian said. "The court also (saw) that she went off of her medications of her own will."

Kinsey noted that Weinrich overdosing her child was due to a "severe psychotic incident" and rules Weinrich should be committed to DCF for the next six months. According to Stokes, Weinrich's daughter is moving in with relatives in a different state.

Weinrich will return before Kinsey on Nov. 17 for a checkup to determine future steps.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola woman Alexandria Weinrich not guilty by reason of insanity