![\"Precious](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_0696.jpg\" "\\"Precious")
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Precious Bland cries as her attorney, Larry Handfield, speaks to reporters outside a Miami courtroom on Tuesday, June 23, 2026. Bland, who drowned her daughter in a bathtub, was found not guilty by reason of insanity.<\/p>\n
Grethel Aguila<\/p>\n
gaguila@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
Florida\u2019s attorney general said he is seeking to impeach a Miami judge after he found a mother who drowned her 1-year-old daughter in a bathtub not guilty by reason of insanity due to COVID-19-related psychosis.<\/p>\n
James Uthmeier, in a Thursday post on X, referenced Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Miguel de la O\u2019s ruling, saying his office \u201cwill be drafting articles of impeachment, and we look forward to working with all legislators who will support.\u201d<\/p>\n
This was a bench trial. It\u2019s time to impeach this judge. <\/p>\n
My office will be drafting articles of impeachment, and we look forward to working with all legislators who will support. https:\/\/t.co\/Pxj9P3fUzS<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) June 25, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n State officials can call for a judge to be impeached, but only the Legislature has the power to remove a judge. However, impeaching a judge is rare.<\/p>\n This week, the judge found that Precious Bland, 43, did not understand the nature of her actions when she killed her daughter. De la O also said he did not see a reason to commit Bland to a mental institution.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Can DeSantis\u2019 AG Uthmeier get Miami judge impeached?<\/a><\/p>\n Bland waived her right to a jury trial, instead opting to have the judge determine whether she should be convicted of aggravated manslaughter and attempted murder. The defense argued that Bland had a psychotic episode due to a COVID infection.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is zero credible explanation other than her psychotic state,\u201d de la O said as he ruled.<\/p>\n In a hearing on Friday, the judge said he was appointing another doctor to evaluate Bland. De la O also said he wants several psychiatrists \u2014 and Bland\u2019s husband \u2014 to testify during a hearing on July 6 about her release. In Florida, a person found not guilty by reason of insanity may be placed on conditional release, which requires a treatment plan and periodic monitoring.<\/p>\n Reacting to the attorney general\u2019s announcement, attorney Larry Handfield, who is representing Bland, told reporters the judge was following the law, and anyone reacting to the verdict without following the trial was jumping to conclusions.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce you know the facts, it was clear that conduct was not the person, the life she lived for 43 years,\u201d Handfield said. The killing, the attorney said, stood in stark contrast to his client, who was a decorated Navy officer who served in Iraq and was part of a security detail for then-President George W. Bush.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Mom: COVID made me drown 1-year-old daughter in tub. Judge says she\u2019s not guilty<\/a><\/p>\n The killing occurred on Aug. 23, 2021, at the home where Bland, her husband, Evan Bland, and their six children lived on the 3000 block of Northwest 99th Street. There, deputies discovered that Bland had drowned her daughter Emii in a bathtub, according to an arrest report.<\/p>\n Emii was found face down inside the bathtub, which was filled with bloody water, investigators say.<\/p>\n Bland\u2019s husband tried to stop her, and a struggle ensued. Precious Bland asked their teenage daughter to get a knife, and the daughter told deputies that she \u201cdidn\u2019t know why [Bland] wanted a knife, but she complied.\u201d With that knife, Bland stabbed her husband in the head and neck \u2014 and, afterward, sliced her teenage daughter in the forearm as the teen tried to get Emii from Bland, the report says.<\/p>\n When deputies arrived, Evan Bland told them his wife \u201cwas upset, stating that Jesus Christ is coming and COVID is going to kill us all,\u201d according to the report. Evan Bland said his wife insisted that everyone in the home needed to be baptized in the bathtub.<\/p>\n Outside the courtroom on Friday, Bland told reporters that she loves her children and has had a difficult time accepting what unfolded on the day she drowned her daughter. She said she has been receiving therapy and mental-health treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a loving mother, wife, friend, sister, daughter, even to strangers,\u201d Bland said. \u201cI would not wish this on my enemies … something so tragic.\u201d<\/p>\n Handfield acknowledged that he was skeptical about COVID-related psychosis until he did research \u2014 and realized how severe the impact of an infection could be.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened to Precious Bland can happen to anyone …,\u201d Handfield said. \u201cIt\u2019s very scary. There\u2019s still a lot we don\u2019t know about COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n COVID and delusions<\/p>\n Bland, Handfield argued, was \u201cunder the influence of delusion\u201d and could not understand the actions that she took on the day of the slaying. During the trial, Bland\u2019s husband testified that she was not acting normal days before Emii\u2019s death.<\/p>\n Handfield pointed out that Bland called her family members \u2014 and also went door to door to her neighbors \u2014 to warn them not to get the COVID vaccine because it was \u201cthe mark of the devil.\u201d<\/p>\n The day of Emii\u2019s killing, Bland told her family members they needed to get baptized because \u201cJesus was coming, and she wanted them to go to heaven together,\u201d the attorney said.<\/p>\n In her delusion, Bland tried to kill her husband because he resisted the baptism. Handfield told the judge her line of thinking was along the lines of: \u201cYou don\u2019t want to be saved. You don\u2019t want to be baptized. You are a demon.\u201d<\/p>\n Handfield also highlighted how Bland\u2019s children, other family members and neighbors testified that she was a loving mother \u2014 and that the killing was inconsistent with the Bland they knew.<\/p>\n Prosecutor Elizabeth Utset, however, painted a different picture.<\/p>\n Utset argued that Bland was in a \u201cpressure-cooker situation\u201d taking care of six children, two of whom were still in diapers, while homeschooling the four school-aged children. On top of that, Bland was doing all the housework, including renovations, on her own because her husband was working 12 to 14 hours a day.<\/p>\n Bland, Utset added, had no mental-health diagnosis that could explain her behavior, and she told investigators she had never heard voices until the day of the killing. Bland was obsessed with religion, but that did not amount to insanity, the prosecutor argued.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s odd behavior, but it\u2019s not psychosis,\u201d Utset said. \u201cThe voices and the COVID psychosis is an embellished and fabricated story.\u201d<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n This story was originally published June 26, 2026 at 12:03 PM.<\/p>\n![\"Judge](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/MIA_01MARTINEZSENTENCE.JPG\" "\\"MIA_01MARTINEZSENTENCE.JPG\\"")
Judge Miguel de la O said: \u2018There is zero credible explanation other than her psychotic state.\u2019 Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com | August 7, 2025 <\/p>\n![\"Precious](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_0695.jpg\" "\\"IMG_0695.jpg\\"")
Precious Bland cries as her attorney, Larry Handfield, speaks to reporters outside a Miami courtroom on Tuesday, June 23, 2026. Grethel Aguila gaguila@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n
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