By Calvin Palmer
A Montreal woman due to go on trial in Vermont for the murder of her eight-year-old son changed her plea today during a hearing in Vermont District Court in North Hero.
Louise Desnoyers, 51, pleaded no contest to a second-degree murder charge in the 2006 drowning of her son in Lake Champlain. She had been due to go on trial on March 30.
When police divers found the body of Nicholas Desnoyers-Langlois, his wrists had been tied to a makeshift mooring.
His mother told authorities that she held her son’s head under water, so he would not have to suffer through her impending breakup with his father.
At today’s hearing, Desnoyers also told Judge Michael Kupersmith that she was withdrawing her insanity defense.
She originally pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder by reason of insanity.
With the plea deal, Desnoyers is looking at 10 to 15 years in prison.
Police started looking for Desnoyers and the boy on August 14, 2006, after they were reported missing by the boy’s father, Real Langlois.
He said he and Desnoyers had talked about separating earlier in the day and that Desnoyers had said she would kill herself if they split up.
She was spotted crossing the Canadian border into the U.S. with the boy later that day. She parked in front of an unoccupied home in Isle La Motte, Vermont, where the family had spent several vacations.
She then walked the boy out into the lake and put his head under, said Grand Isle State’s Attorney David Miller.
After responding to the report of an abandoned car with blood in it, police found Desnoyers in a shed, caught in barbed wire, her wrists and neck slashed. They believed she also had consumed windshield washer fluid.
She was taken to hospital and, drifting in and out of consciousness, told Detective James Claremont that the boy was in “a nice place”.
“She cupped her right hand and made a motion pushing down,” according to the affidavit. “She advised she held his head under water. She said ‘I kill him’ in broken English.”
Police found a note in her car saying she did not want to hurt or humiliate anyone and that everyone would be at peace, Miller said.
Toxicology results revealed drugs in the boy’s body, he said, without specifying them.
The case has been drawn out because of questions about the competency of Desnoyers, a former teacher, to stand trial. Since her arrest, she has been held at the Vermont psychiatric hospital in Waterbury.
After continually being found incompetent, a judge in October said she was mentally fit to stand trial.
Robert Katims, her lawyer, said he had strong case to prove Desnoyers was insane at the time of the crime but said the plea deal was a fair compromise.
Prosecutors agreed to the deal partly because a key witness – Langlois – had refused to testify because of emotional turmoil, Miller said.
Desnoyers has attempted suicide several times and the prison term could be a life sentence.
“She will be haunted by her own demons behind bars,” Miller said.
No sentencing date has been set.
[Based on reports by the Associated Press and newsday.com.]
