Recorded confession barred from trial

The morning after she allegedly fatally stabbed her two children and attempted to kill herself, a sedated Mathews woman admitted to detectives that she had committed the crime.

However, the recorded interview in which Amy Hebert, 41, can faintly be heard telling Lafourche Parish sheriff’s detectives “I killed them” will be excluded from court.

In a two-part hearing before Lafourche District Judge Jerome Barbera III last week, Hebert’s defense attorneys sought to suppress all evidence removed from her St. Anthony Street residence in the hours after the Aug. 20, 2007, double-murder, as well as the taped confession given the following morning from her hospital bed.

Hebert faces two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of her two children, 9-year-old daughter Camille and 7-year-old son Braxton. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Lafourche Parish District Attorney Cam Morvant II has said he intends to seek the death penalty at Hebert’s capital-murder trial, which is set to begin Oct. 28.

Morvant successfully argued Thursday that the 152 pieces of evidence – including 13 knives, a blood-stained Bible and a handwritten note addressed the day of the murders – were in “plain view” of officers and, therefore, were legally seized in accordance with Louisiana law. Barbera agreed, noting deputies had probable cause to enter the residence after a family member spotted a blood trail in the hallway leading to the master bedroom.

However, Barbera sided with defense attorneys that Hebert’s recorded admission that she killed her children to keep them from her ex-husband was not the product of a “rational intellect and a free will.”

Less than two hours before detectives questioned Hebert the following morning at Ochsner St. Anne General Hospital’s intensive care unit in Raceland, she had been administered doses of morphine to alleviate pain and Ativan, an anti-anxiety drug, her admitting physician testified in court Thursday.

Dr. Jack Heidenreich said Hebert was being treated for 19 stab wounds, including punctures to her eyelids, neck and chest. She had also slit both wrists, leaving tendons exposed. During surgery the morning of the murders, surgeons had inserted two chest tubes to restore air to Hebert’s collapsed lungs.

To treat her pain, Heidenreich testified he had authorized nurses to administer 1 milligram of morphine every five minutes if needed. According to court testimony, Hebert received two morphine injections intravenously – one at 6:30 a.m. and a second at 6:35 p.m. – and 1 milligram of Ativan at approximately 7:30 a.m.

Detectives arrived at the hospital around 8:30 a.m. to interview Hebert.

The recording itself served as the best evidence, Barbera said, noting, “It is not difficult to conclude that the drugs had the desired affect.”

NO RESPONSE AT HOME

Morvant said in court that a co-worker initially went to the residence Aug. 20, 2007, after Hebert failed to report to her teacher’s aide job that morning at Lockport Lower Elementary. The children were also absent from school.

“The co-worker went to the residence thinking Mrs. Hebert may have overslept,” the district attorney said.

By 9:19 a.m., a worried Chad Hebert, the ex-husband of Amy Hebert and father of Camille and Braxton, notified the sheriff’s office.

Neighbor Ray Baudoin testified that he joined the family in circling the residence, checking for unlocked windows or doors.

“The car was parked under the carport, but no one was answering,” Baudoin said. “We walked around the house; it was all quiet.”

Hebert’s former father-in-law, R.J. “Buck” Hebert, testified Thursday that the unusual quiet was cause for concern. “Normally, when you walk through the front door, the dog barks,” he said.

Buck Hebert said he used a garden hose nozzle to break a back patio window and climbed inside. He told the court he followed a trail of blood droplets to the master bedroom, where he found Hebert lying in bed under blood-soaked sheets.

When Morvant asked Buck Hebert to describe the scene, he said, “A lot of blood,” his voice cracking with emotion. “And when I looked in, I saw Camille laying in a pool of blood and there was Amy.”

It was Buck Hebert’s scream, “Oh God, someone get in here,” that sent off-duty Sgt. Todd Prevost into the house through the window. He ran to the bloody bedroom and rushed Buck Hebert back out of the house, calling for help from Deputy Mike Wintzel, the second officer to arrive at the scene.

Wintzel broke down the back door and the two officers rushed to the bedroom doorway, Prevost testified. At that point, Hebert raised up in the bed and told the deputies to “Get the f— out of here,” he told the court.

The deputies testified Hebert had her children cradled in each arm. In her right hand, she was brandishing a large knife, “about like a filet knife,” Wintzel said.

Upon retreating from the bedroom to devise a plan to retrieve the children, Prevost and Wintzel were joined by Deputy Warren Callais. The deputies re-entered the house and, using Wintzel’s Taser, decided to fire at Hebert to get her to drop the knife as Prevost and Callais grabbed the children.

Morvant played video recorded with the Taser – visible on a screen facing the judge and witness stand only.

Wintzel is heard shouting a warning as Prevost pulled the bedding to the floor, knocking the family dog’s dead body to the ground. As Wintzel fired the Taser’s dart into her right leg, Hebert was heard screaming in pain.

During the next minute of video, Wintzel is heard issuing orders. “Ma’am, we need you to lay on your stomach or we will hit you again with the Taser,” he warns. “Ma’am, we are going to help you. I know you don’t want it right now… Can you tell me what happened? Is your name Amy?”

After her initial moans, Hebert remained silent.

In the meantime, Prevost testified the children’s bodies were placed on the living room floor, out of the sight of relatives who were gathered outside of the home.

As Acadian Ambulance technicians tended to the handcuffed Hebert, deputies secured the scene for detectives.

‘PILE OF KNIVES,’ BLOOD-STAINED BIBLE, NOTE RETRIEVED

Over the next several hours, law enforcement officers began the arduous task of collecting evidence. In all, 152 pieces were seized – including 24 items blacked out by the court, according to the defense’s motion to suppress evidence.

In addition to blood samples and a “pile of knives” Prevost said were found on the bed, a Bible with spots of blood was recovered from a table near where the children’s bodies were placed. Also, on an ottoman nearby, a medical technician and Wintzel spotted a notepad with a blood-stained, handwritten letter addressed to Hebert’s former mother-in-law and dated Aug. 20, 2007.

Deputies did obtain three warrants that morning: To search a computer, the residence’s telephone records and to obtain a blood sample drawn by Ochsner St. Anne staff. Hebert’s defense team argued, however, that warrants to search the home were never requested.

“Your honor, the search was incident to the arrest,” Morvant told Barbera. “These officers had a duty … an obligation to go into the residence based on the facts and circumstances.” The evidence was all spotted in plain view within 30 minutes of entering the home, he argued.

“No search occurred. Evidence of blood on the note, the Bible and the knives was all evident,” Barbera said in his ruling. “This was a horrific crime scene. Blood in a case like this is evidence.”

RECORDED CONFESSION NOT AS CLEAR-CUT

In Friday’s testimony, nurses treating Hebert recounted voluntary statements the wounded woman made in the hours after she was admitted to the hospital.

Although she was compliant with medical treatment, Hebert remained silent the day of the murders, those responsible for her care testified.

On Aug. 21, 2007, the morning after the stabbings, Roxanne Chiasson, R.N., told the court Hebert looked her in the eye and said, “I was supposed to die.”

Hebert repeated the statement to another nurse, Melissa Falgout, who told the court she went to pray with Hebert at a friend’s request. Afterward, “she told me to tell her (the friend) that she was supposed to die,” Falgout testified. “She didn’t say anything else. She was crying.”

When Lafourche Parish detectives Chad Shelby and Barron Cortopassi arrived at the hospital, Hebert was recorded saying, “I killed my children.” When Shelby questioned Hebert as to why, she said her ex-husband intended to “take my children away.”

Morvant argued Hebert’s comments that morning – even correcting Shelby when he misstated her address at one point in the interview – were indications that she was not too impaired to speak to detectives.

However, defense attorney George Parnham argued the recorded confession was clear evidence that Hebert was not coherent enough to be interrogated by detectives.

Sounding groggy and, at times, incoherent, Hebert can be heard mumbling “mmhmm” in response to detectives questions. The officers repeatedly reminded her that she must “say yes” rather than nod her head. The brief interview ended when Hebert asked to speak to an attorney.

“The best evidence of her mental state at the time is that tape recording,” Parnham told Barbera.

The judge later agreed, barring the statement to detectives from Hebert’s trial in October.

Recorded confession barred from trial