TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

A woman suffering from postpartum depression when she stabbed her baby in a methamphetamine-induced psychosis was sentenced Tuesday to probation with terms including counseling but no prison time.

Prosecutors had called for prison time in part because in 2009, Danielle Nichole Mailloux had given birth to a stillborn baby as a result of meth abuse.

Kern County Superior Court Judge Charles R. Brehmer said he considered both her severe depression and troubled family life at the time of the attack in handing down his sentence.

Brehmer’s decision marked a stunning turnaround for Mailloux, who had initially faced life in prison upon her arrest in May and had still faced the possibility of a 12-year sentence after pleading no contest to inflicting injury upon a child. The baby, just six weeks old, survived the attack.

Brehmer said that as inexcusable and horrific as Mailloux’s crime was, he was going to give her one more chance.

“I’m not going to throw away the key on you, although that would be a viable sentence,” Brehmer told the 24-year-old Mailloux.

Brehmer told Mailloux he’d thought about her case for months, struggling with what sentence would best serve justice.

“I don’t know that there’s a right answer for you,” Brehmer said as he looked directly at Mailloux. “There’s just an answer.”

He sentenced her to eight years, then stayed execution of that sentence upon the condition Mailloux successfully complete five years of probation and all the drug and psychological counseling and other terms the probation carries. That includes staying on medications she’s taking to treat her depression.

He told her one infraction, no matter what it was, would immediately result in her being sent to prison to serve the entire sentence.

Mailloux was ordered to serve the first nine months probation in county jail, but she’s been in custody since the stabbing and has earned enough credits to be released sometime this month.

Family support

“We are thrilled,” Mailloux’s attorney, Mark Anthony Raimondo, said of the sentence. “Her family’s thrilled.”

Raimondo said Brehmer’s decision was nothing more than one last opportunity for Mailloux to conquer her demons. He said it’s too early to say when Mailloux could be reunited with the baby, adding that a “long process” has only just begun.

Many members of Mailloux’s large extended family cried in the courtroom as the sentence was read. Some had written letters in support of her rehabilitation and release, and Raimondo said all of them wanted her to have the chance to be reunited with the family.

“They’re not willing to give up on Danielle,” he said.

Mailloux’s grandmother, Kaaren Shatswell, gave a statement in court on behalf of the family. She said Mailloux is a caring, loving woman, and it’s hard to fathom how she could have hurt her baby.

“If someone had told me I’d be here today for this reason, I’d have thought it’s not possible,” Shatswell said.

Brehmer said it’s clear Mailloux’s postpartum depression was partly responsible for leading her back to meth. The drug use and depression, combined with pressures from her husband and other relatives, led to an attack Brehmer described as “unthinkable.”

Mailloux had apparently separated from her husband for a while, and when she went back to him, Raimondo said, she was abandoned by her immediate family. Then the demands of her husband, caring for the baby and her drug use led to a catastrophic meltdown, Raimondo said.

Prosecutor Arthur Norris, while agreeing with Raimondo that Mailloux was influenced by depression and drugs when she committed the stabbing, argued she nonetheless deserved time behind bars. Given that Mailloux had suffered a stillborn child because of meth, he found it incredible she would continue to use the drug.

Norris said the stillbirth should have been so gut-wrenching, so horrific, that Mailloux should never even have considered using meth again, let alone followed through in obtaining and using the drug.

After sentencing, Norris said he disagreed with Brehmer’s sentence but understands how he arrived at it.

“I don’t agree with it, but it’s certainly not a crazy decision whatsoever,” he said.

Prosecutors have said no charges were filed in the 2009 stillbirth because the baby never lived outside the womb.

Someone can be charged with murder in the death of a fetus after it's in the post-embryonic phase, seven to eight weeks after fertilization, prosecutors said. But there’s an exception — murder charges can't be applied if "the act was solicited, aided, abetted, or consented to by

the mother of the fetus," according to California penal code.

The attack

Deputies reported Mailloux stabbed her daughter, Aubrey Ragina Mailloux, multiple times on the evening of May 15, resulting in injuries across her body. Aubrey suffered multiple stab wounds to her back, a severe laceration to the left side of her abdomen, cuts to her jaw and neck and bruising on the top of her head, according to court records.

The baby was first taken to Kern Medical Center and later transferred to Children’s Hospital Central California in Madera. She recovered.

A black-handled folding knife with a 3-inch blade and a box cutter were seized from the residence, deputies reported.

Mailloux’s husband, John Mailloux, told deputies he’d been showering when Danielle entered the bathroom and said she’d hurt the baby.

John Mailloux ran through the house until he found Aubrey underneath a sleeping bag in a bedroom closet, according to court documents.

John Mailloux told deputies Danielle “had the deepest darkest stare I have ever seen in my life, no expression, no movement,” the court documents say.

He at first told investigators his wife “only smokes herb,” but under further questioning admitted she had started using meth again within a month of the stabbing, the documents say.

John Mailloux declined to comment after Danielle’s sentencing.

Aubrey, as well as a 6-year-old daughter, have been in the custody of a family member of Mailloux the last few months, Raimondo said.

Feelings of helplessness

Postpartum depression is a widely recognized condition that affects many women.

Dr. Gabriela Obrocea, of Kern County Mental Health, said during pregnancy the baby secretes a powerful estrogen that acts as an antidepressant for the mother.

Once the child’s born, that antidepressant is gone, and that, combined with all the other hormonal changes a woman goes through during pregnancy, can lead to depression. At least that’s one of the theories regarding postpartum depression, Obrocea said.

Usually there’s also a prior genetic propensity for it, she said. The causes are not well understood.

A woman in the grips of postpartum depression will feel sad, extremely fatigued, isolated and experience sleep and appetite disturbances. She won’t feel like doing anything and becomes easily distracted and forgetful.

Some women get well as time goes on and with treatment, and some women never feel better, Obrocea said.

Treatment depends on the particular circumstances of each woman, and can involve medication and counseling.

Reaction

Among those watching the proceedings Tuesday were H.A. Sala and Michael C. Lukehart, two local well-known defense attorneys.

Sala later said he was familiar with the case and had been interested in finding out what Brehmer’s decision would be. Given that Mailloux was diagnosed with postpartum depression and that her actions weren’t voluntary, he thinks the judge made the right call.

“Punishing someone for that, what do you accomplish?” Sala said. “In my view, nothing. She was suffering from a medical disorder.”

Brehmer made a telling point, Sala said, in telling Mailloux he would have sent her to prison if meth alone had played a part in the stabbing. Brehmer clearly found that Mailloux was suffering from a condition beyond her control, Sala said.

Lukehart said this case is a great example of why there’s judicial discretion at sentencing. A judge can take into account a person’s life circumstances at the time they committed the crime.

Lukehart said, having represented people suffering from postpartum depression, it’s a very real condition that can be debilitating.

“I think Brehmer is a careful and thoughtful judge and I’m not surprised (at the decision),” he said.