Mother pleads not guilty in slaying of children

Thursday, Dec. 2, 2004 | 9:34 a.m.

A mother who claims Jesus told her to beat her two children to death with an aluminum baseball bat pleaded not guilty on Wednesday and is set to stand trial before District Judge Joseph Bonaventure on June 6.

Sylvia Ewing is charged with two counts of murder with a deadly weapon in connection with the September 2003 deaths of her children, Phillip, 8, and Julie, 4, in their apartment at Emerald Suites on Las Vegas Boulevard North across from Nellis Air Force Base.

Deputy Public Defender Joe Abood said although he was "continuing an investigation into mental health issues" regarding Ewing he said the most likely defense would be insanity. He said "technically we can bring up that point at any time."

Chief Deputy District Attorney Vicki Monroe said a committee at the district attorney's office was scheduled to decide whether or not to seek the death penalty against Ewing.

Ewing sat in court with her hands clenched together, lips pursed and eyes squinted as if she didn't know what was going on around her on Wednesday morning.

Ewing's charges had been on hold since October 2003 when Bonaventure found Ewing mentally incompetent to stand trial and sent her to Lake's Crossing, the state mental hospital in Sparks. In August, however, doctors at the facility deemed Ewing competent after daily evaluations the past nine months made them conclude Ewing had reached "a point where she was able to assist counsel in her case."

For the past several months, Ewing, who has a sixth grade education and is a native of the Philippines, has been in the Clark County Detention Center where jail officials have said they would ensure that her psychiatric treatment continues.