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A Durham mother accused of murdering her toddler and trying to kill her baby will plead not guilty by reason of insanity, according to a motion filed Tuesday.
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Andrea Faust, 41, is charged with murder and attempted murder in the Feb. 12 death of her 3-year-old son and injury of her 23-month-old. Faust attempted suicide while being held in the Durham County jail after her arrest and has been found hoarding Tylenol pills, causing her to be placed on suicide watch, The News & Observer previously reported.
Faust’s defense attorney, Nicole Galinsky, filed a motion Tuesday indicating Faust will argue she is not guilty by reason of insanity and diminished capacity.
In North Carolina, when a defendant is found not guilty by reason of insanity, they must be committed to a state mental health facility, according to the UNC School of Government. They can be released at some point, but face a “high hurdle” in establishing they won’t be a risk to others if they’ve committed homicide, the school wrote.
Faust has been hospitalized at Central Regional Hospital in Butner since April in an attempt to restore her capacity to proceed with a trial, according to court documents. The hospital reported to the court May 21 that Faust was now competent to stand trial, Assistant District Attorney Mary Jude Darrow wrote.
Darrow motioned Tuesday to have Faust psychologically evaluated, which Galinsky indicated she would not oppose. Darrow based her motion on a July 29 report from Dr. Adrienne Saxton, a Charlotte-based forensic psychiatrist.
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Saxton found that Faust was “laboring under a defect of reason from disease of the mind” and could not distinguish right from wrong at the time of the incident, according to Darrow’s motion. Saxton is board certified in general and forensic psychiatry and specializes in competency findings, her Atrium Health webpage states. She has testified more than 40 times in court cases.
Darrow has also reviewed Faust’s medical records from UNC Chapel Hill, Duke University Medical Center and the Durham County Sheriff’s Office, though it’s not clear what those records show.
The motion comes as the Massachusetts trial of Lindsay Clancy, a mother accused of murdering her three children while experiencing postpartum psychosis in 2023, has made national headlines. Clancy, too, is arguing she is not guilty by reason of insanity.
A judge had not yet ruled on Darrow’s motion as of Wednesday morning. Faust remains hospitalized at Central Regional Hospital, with her next court date tentatively set for October.
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