DEQUEEN, Ark., Jan. 31 (UPI) -- An Arkansas woman who has pleaded innocent to smothering her three children will undergo psychiatric evaluation to determine if she was clinically depressed.
Monday, Eleazar Paula Mendez of DeQueen, Ark., entered her plea and her attorney asked that she undergo a mental evaluation, which could hold things up three to six months, KATV TV, Little Rock, reported.
Prosecuting attorney Tom Cooper said the woman told police she poisoned and smothered her 5-year-old twins and a 7-year-old son out of depression on Saturday.
She said the children's father, Arturo Morales, was living and working in New York City, and had told her around New Year's that he wanted out of their marriage of more than 10 years.
Mendez is under suicide watch at the Sevier County Jail, where she is being held without bond.
