State’s highest court denies Hebert appeal

The Louisiana Supreme Court denied a writ of appeal last month for Amy Hebert, the Mathews woman serving two life sentences after she was convicted of stabbing her two children to death in their home in 2007.

Hebert, 44, is being kept at the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women in St. Gabriel. She was convicted in 2009 of murdering her 7-year-old son Braxton and 9-year-old daughter Camille.

She pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity at the trial.

The court’s ruling all but closes the book on the state appeals process. Hebert and her appellate attorney, Jane Beebe, can still file for post-conviction relief or make a federal appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“They may be able to ask for a rehearing, but other than that, it’s over with,” District Attorney Cam Morvant said. “We may get into other issues later on down the road, but the appeals process is over.”

The defense argued that witnesses’ testimony during the trial proved that Hebert was insane when she inflicted more than 100 stab wounds on her children and the family’s dog.

Hebert showed eight of nine indicators of someone suffering major depression with psychotic features, defense witness Phillip Resnick, an Ohio-based psychiatrist, testified.

Beebe did not respond to a phone message left at her office.