Trial set to start for mother accused of shooting her 4-year-old twins to death

By Alexa Hinton


The trial of a Florida woman pleading insanity in the 2005 shooting deaths of her 4-year-old twin boys is expected to begin Thursday.

Leslie Demeniuk

Leslie Ormandy Demeniuk is accused of murdering her sons, James Richard and John Thomas, who were each found shot in the head. She allegedly shot one boy execution-style in the forehead while he lay in bed watching television and then chased the other boy down the hallway, firing a bullet in his ear, according to Sgt. Chuck Mulligan of the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office. Police discovered the mother, then 31, passed out on a bed holding the murder weapon, a .357 Magnum handgun, Mulligan said. Demeniuk's blood-alcohol level was higher than .30, more than four times the legal limit for driving, according to police.

Demeniuk's original plea of not guilty to the first-degree murder charges was later changed to not guilty by reason of insanity after extensive medical examinations.
Demeniuk had finalized her divorce four days before the shootings, and defense attorneys are expected to argue that the combination of alcohol and antidepressants she took during that period caused a "substance-induced mood disorder with psychosis."
Psychiatrist David Menkes of the University of Wales testified in pretrial hearings that antidepressants can provoke homicidal thoughts and a craving for alcohol.

James and John Demeniuk
According to court records, Demeniuk stopped taking the antidepressant Zoloft two days before the killings because of panic attacks and other side effects. She switched to Paxil, which she mixed with bourbon and beer on the day of the shootings.
Jacksonville psychiatrist Ernest Miller also testified that Demeniuk has a history of substance abuse, emotional problems, and she has a lesion in a part of her brain that governs rage, the Florida Times-Union reported.
Prosecutors, however, are expected to paint an unsympathetic picture of a cold-blooded woman who murdered her children to spite her ex-husband, a Navy operations specialist.

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Proud Supporter Of: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

who cares??

she took two young and INNOCENT lives

i say give her the same treament, only a little bit slower....like being drawn an quartererd but shetland pony's!!!!

OMG------------------

Well I hope they find her guilty. And then keep her locked up for the rest of her life. So that she never sees the light of day. I have 14 grandkids and I could not seeing killing off one of the kids or grandkids.

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A thought (The trucking game! Never any rules for the management or DOT and a lot of BS from them. Then all rules for the drivers for we are covered in bull!!!)

73's

Phil/KG4JRR

I'm cheering for the prosecution here as well. But, not nearly as loud as the front row folks are.

Take a look at the facts, I'm not making excuses for the woman. Just providing you with a few facts, before you have her crucified on the court lawn.

Depression is real. And self medication is dangerous at all levels. As this lady has found out the hard way.

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Team Players.....
It's hard for me to play professional team sports. On a minor league salary.

There are as many ways to be impaired as one can dream of, the question is whether or not she knew what she was doing, if she used a gun, the answer to that would have to be yes. I have heard of some crazy hallucinations from medications and herbal substances and that would be a mitigating factor, no amount of punishment will bring those twins back. Living with what she did will be more punishment than anything the justice system can impose.

I remember when that happened (not far from here). I just watched the show on it last night. She seemed like they were in the way. I can't imagine killing a child especially your own. She was sane enough to chase him down when he was running. Can you imagine what went through their little minds. She should never see the light of day again.

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I HAVE A NEED FOR GOD AND A GOD FOR MY NEEDS

Thats a real winner there boy, lock her up and throw away the key, put her in gen pop, theyll tear her apart for what she did!!

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You have that right!!!

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A thought (The trucking game! Never any rules for the management or DOT and a lot of BS from them. Then all rules for the drivers for we are covered in bull!!!)

73's

Phil/KG4JRR