{"id":332502,"date":"2026-08-29T04:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T04:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/332502\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T04:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T04:54:09","slug":"judge-finds-nyc-mom-with-postpartum-psychosis-not-guilty-of-killing-her-2-young-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/332502\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge finds NYC mom with postpartum psychosis not guilty of killing her 2 young kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Bronx judge found a mother of two suffering from postpartum psychosis not guilty of killing her young children<\/a> in 2022 \u2014 while jurors in Massachusetts are in the middle of deliberating a similar fate for Lindsay Clancy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dimone Fleming, 26, was found not responsible by mental disease or defect in court on Monday for the deaths of her two children, 3-year-old Daishawn Fleming and 11-month-old Octavius Canada, at a Bronx family shelter, the New York Times<\/a> reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the night of the gruesome killings, Fleming was \u201cgrossly psychotic and out of touch with reality,\u201d according to psychiatrist Dr. Eric Goldsmith.<\/p>\n

Dimone Fleming, now-26, was found not criminally responsible by mental disease or defect for the deaths of her two young children in 2022 by a Bronx judge on Monday. Facebook\/Dimone Fleming<\/p>\n

Goldsmith, who evaluated Fleming at the request of the prosecution, said she was hallucinating, convinced that the world was coming to an end and believed a spirit had invaded her body.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Similarly, \u201cMs. Fleming believed her actions were necessary to protect or \u2018cleanse\u2019 her children<\/a>,\u201d according to a forensic psychiatrist report written by doctors hired by the defense. <\/p>\n

Before the killings, Fleming had been treated at a Queens hospital for two months, where she was diagnosed with major depressive disorder and prescribed psychotropic medication, the Times reported, citing court records.<\/p>\n

But the mother of two did not take her medication as prescribed and instead used marijuana daily \u2014 which reportedly exacerbated her mental health symptoms.<\/p>\n

Fleming stabbed her 3-year-old and 11-month-old sons to death on Nov. 26, 2022. Facebook\/Dimone Fleming<\/p>\n

Mental examinations ordered by both the prosecution and defense determined Fleming was in a state of psychosis at the time of the bloody killings.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

On the night of Nov. 26, 2022, a shelter employee called 911 on reports of water and smoke coming from Fleming\u2019s apartment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police found Fleming \u201cacting irrationally\u201d and she was taken to the hospital for evaluation.<\/p>\n

The gruesome killings took place in Fleming\u2019s apartment at a Bronx family shelter. J. Messerschmidt\/NY Post<\/p>\n

Cops didn\u2019t initially notice the slain boys buried under a pile of clothes\u00a0in the bathtub when they took her away, as a neighbor told police the young children were with their father.<\/p>\n

Shortly after, Fleming\u2019s then-boyfriend and father of 11-month-old Octavius, Columbus Canada<\/a>, found the two young boys unresponsive in the apartment and called police. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Prosecutors and Fleming\u2019s lawyer agreed the now-26-year-old mother of two was experiencing postpartum psychosis at the of the killings. Facebook\/Dimone Fleming<\/p>\n

Police sources told The Post at the time<\/a> that Fleming allegedly confessed to killing her two young sons and made statements about the \u201cdevil\u201d to detectives.<\/p>\n

The then-22-year-old mother was charged with first-degree murder.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In court this week, prosecutors said that trying Fleming for double murder would not serve justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cProsecuting mothers does not and cannot prevent these crimes from happening, but public discourse might,\u201d Bronx assistant district attorney Tiffany Wichman told the publication.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople talking about it is important, and I hope people continue talking about it,\u201d the prosecutor said.<\/p>\n

3-year-old Daishawn Fleming and 11-month-old Octavius Canada were repeatedly stabbed to death by their mother. Handout<\/p>\n

Fleming\u2019s case presents eerie similarities to Lindsay Clancy\u2019s sensational triple-murder trial in Massachusetts. Plymouth Superior Court<\/p>\n

Fleming \u2014 who is not yet being released from custody \u2014 will be re-evaluated by court-appointed psychiatrists and is slated to return to court on Sept. 18. <\/p>\n

The judge is expected to make a ruling on next steps and if she might still be a threat to others.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While she will avoid a prison stint, Fleming could likely remain hospitalized for months \u2014 if not years. <\/p>\n

The jury are currently deliberating on an outcome for mother of three Lindsay Clancy who killed her three yound children in 2023. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

Canada, 35, was in court on Monday and told the outlet that he forgives Fleming for what she did four years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a good person,\u201d he said. \u201cShe was a loving person. She loved kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fleming\u2019s case draws eerie parallels between Lindsay Clancy\u2019s highly publicized Massachusetts triple-murder trial<\/a>, where jurors are in the process of deciding the former labor and delivery nurse\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n

Clancy wants the jury to find her not guilty by reason of insanity<\/a> on the grounds she was experiencing severe postpartum psychosis when she strangled her three kids and tried to kill herself \u2014 allegedly worsened by a slew of powerful psychiatric meds she was prescribed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Bronx judge found a mother of two suffering from postpartum psychosis not guilty of killing her young…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3283,4234,115616,57,238,9,24,56,63,65,64,118909,122,129,4721,58],"class_list":["post-332502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-arrests","tag-judges","tag-lindsay-clancy","tag-metro","tag-murders","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-postpartum-depression","tag-queens","tag-the-bronx","tag-trials","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}