A young mother broke down sobbing while on the stand in Ramsey County District Court Thursday as she described how she killed her infant son and then tried to kill herself while suffering from postpartum depression now more than a year ago.
Shwe Htoo, 23, of St. Paul, entered a guilty plea to the charge of first-degree manslaughter during the two-hour hearing.
Htoo needed to be redirected several times as she wavered when asked by attorneys and the presiding judge what her aim was Nov. 17, 2015 when she fed her 5-week-old child a bottle mixed with milk and poison and later suffocated him.
Speaking through an interpreter, the Karen refugee at times told Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Hao Nguyen that she knew her actions would result in her son’s death. At other points she said it never was her intent.
She had held her composure during much of the proceedings, until Ramsey County District Judge Judith Tilsen asked her to be more direct.
“I know this is hard, but we have to go back to that day,” Tilsen told her, before prompting Nyguen to ask Htoo again what she did when her baby failed to die from the poisonous mixture.
“I cover his nose with my hands and he couldn’t breathe, and then…,” Htoo said before finally breaking down.
She collapsed into her lap and wailed for several seconds before she could continue.
“And then he just died,” she said.
The baby’s name was Michael Kyaw Htoo.
With her family and a close family friend looking on, Htoo was asked to describe the events of that night in detail as part of the guilty plea she entered Thursday. The deal negotiated by the state and Htoo’s defense including dropping the charge she initially faced in the case — second-degree murder.
As part of the agreement, Htoo agreed to allow Tilsen to depart from legal guidelines when she sentences Htoo in March to give her a longer prison sentence that is typically granted for first-degree manslaughter.
She faces between 12 and a half years and 15 years due to aggravating factors, including the child’s young and vulnerable age, the cruelty it took to carry out her plan as well as the thought and concealment involved.
First-degree manslaughter typically carries a six to eight-and-a-half-year sentence.
Depressed, unhappy in her marriage, and feeling like she wanted to die, Htoo said she initially tried to kill her baby by feeding him a mixture of milk, sleeping pills, sugar and a substance used to kill bedbugs while the two were alone in a bedroom in their home on Hoyt Avenue East in St. Paul. She also drank the mixture, intending to kill herself.
When that failed to work, Htoo suffocated the infant with her hands, placed his dead body in a baby carrier and got into the vehicle left behind by her husband, who was away at work in Wisconsin at the time, she testified in court.
Not knowing how to drive, she left her residence and headed toward Como Zoo.
“I was looking for a place to die… I was looking for a place to crash, because my son was already dead and I don’t feel like living anymore,” she said.
She was arrested after crashing her car into a light pole on Midway Parkway.
“I thought that I was already dead, but I wasn’t,” she said.
Court proceedings in the case were long stalled as Htoo was initially committed to Regions Hospital as mentally ill. Court filings indicated she was diagnosed with major depression with possible psychotic features, post-traumatic stress disorder and postpartum depression.
She was determined to be competent to stand trial last March.
As she explained her actions on the stand Thursday, Htoo went back and forth about her thinking that day. At one point she said she never wanted to kill her son and that she was dizzy and disoriented from drinking the mixture herself when she suffocated him.
“I don’t have intention to kill my baby at all. I love my son,” she said.
She later admitted after further probing by Hao and Tilsen that she had planned to kill both herself and her infant when she prepared the concoction.
In addition to her prison sentence, Htoo could face deportation. Htoo said she understood that.
Ken Severson was among the few people in the courtroom Thursday. He described himself as a close family friend and “surrogate father” to Htoo after she arrived in Minnesota with her siblings from a refugee camp in Thailand a few years ago.
Watching her weep in court was painful, he said.
“There was nothing new. I had heard it all before… but hearing her say it today was very difficult,” he said.
He added that it’s hard for him to reconcile her actions with the deep emotional connection he know she’s always had with her son.
“She admitted what happened… so it would be difficult for her to say she was innocent, but certainly she was influenced by her depression,” Severson said. “Does that excuse it? Probably not, but does it explain it… I think so.”
He went on to describe the lengths the young mother took to reveal the “deep, deep love” she had for her son once she was admitted to the psychiatric unit at Region’s Hospital following her arrest.
She plastered signs all over the walls declaring it, Severson said, and wrote “I love Michael,” all over her body.
She said Thursday that she is still being treated for depression as well as sleep problems.
Kyaw Htoo, the baby’s father and Shwe Htoo’s cultural husband, also was present Thursday. He referred questions to Severson following the proceeding.
Htoo is expected to be sentenced in March.
IF YOU NEED HELP
The Minnesota Department of Health offers information about post-partum depression on the web here.
In case of an emergency or crisis, call 911 or Crisis Connection at 866-379-6363, TTY 612-379-6377, or text “LIFE” to 61222 (available in many rural areas). Or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 800-273-TALK.
Pregnancy Postpartum Support Minnesota provides resources and information online at ppsupportmn.org or by calling or texting 612-787-7776.