Mom ruled competent to stand trial in slaying of two children

Thursday, Nov. 18, 2004 | 9:38 a.m.

After hearing emotionally charged testimony and arguments about whether the mother who allegedly beat her two children to death with an aluminum baseball bat is mentallly competent to stand trial, a North Las Vegas Justice of the Peace effectively decided she is.

Stephen Dahl scheduled Sylvia Ewing's arraignment for Dec. 1 before District Judge Joseph Bonaventure for Dec. 1.

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.

Her 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."

Ewing's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Joe Abood, took issue with whether Ewing is competent as he said recent "opinions of her (Ewing's) psychologist and psychiatrist are that she is, at best, borderline competent."

Abood said he would like the prosecution to "stipulate she's insane and send her to Lake's Crossing."

But Deputy District Attorney Becky Goettsch said because she hasn't received "all of her (Ewing's) medical and psychological records" the prosecution doesn't have a position on Ewing's competence.

For the last several months, Ewing has been in the Clark County Detention Center where jail officials have said they would ensure that her psychiatric treatment continues.

Prosecutors have said Ewing's competence will be monitored by doctors at the jail -- and doctors from Lake's Crossing if need be -- as her case moves forward.

Ewing was pale and looked confused during Wednesday's proceeding. Her only display of emotion was when she cried during her husband's testimony.

Darryl Ewing, a 48-year-old truck driver, said his wife was a "perfect" mom. They met in the Philippines in 1991 when he was serving in the Navy. He cried as he said he "had a really bad feeling something was wrong" the day he went to pick-up his son from school only to be told by the teacher that Philip never made it to class.

He continued to battle away tears as he said he was afraid his wife and children might had been involved in an accident he noticed when he was driving by his apartment complex earlier in the day.

Darryl Ewing left his son's school and went to his apartment where he found Julie's body on the floor first.

"I was yelling for my wife Sylvia and Philip," Darryl Ewing said. "I had no idea what was going on and then I saw him (Philip) lying between the two beds in the bedroom the same way Julie looked."

He said he kept yelling his wife's name looking "under the bed, in the bathroom and in the closet" for her. When he went into the kitchen to call 911 he found a note written on paper from his son's school notebook. His wife's had written, "Jesus loved the kids, Jesus is coming soon."

After Darryl Ewing read the note he said he thought, "Oh my God, she killed the kids."

He would later discover his wife was involved in the accident in front of the apartment complex earlier in the day. She had thrown herself in front of a tractor-trailer.

Darryl Ewing said he still stands by his wife and has remained in contact with her via the telephone since she has been in custody. While she has admitted to him that "she killed the kids," he and his wife "don't really discuss it." He said his wife has told him "the kids are with Jesus now."

Darryl Ewing said his wife had a history of mental illness that focused on religion. He said his wife's problems came to the forefront after an incident in April 2002.

At 1:30 a.m. he said he received a phone call from a neighbor who said Sylvia was standing in the middle of the street holding his daughter screaming "Jesus is coming, rapture is coming."

Darryl Ewing said he rushed to his neighbor's house where Sylvia Ewing, Philip and Julie were. Upon arriving he found his wife sitting on the toilet, crying, holding a Bible and "shaking like a leaf." He said he tried to get the Bible away from his wife, but she wouldn't let go and instead said told him "Jesus is coming, rapture is coming. We've got to save the kids."

He said it was then when he issued an ultimatum to his wife "it's either me or that Bible."

He said he took his wife to the emergency room at Nellis Air Force Base and while he was checking her in, she put a "death grip" on a woman sitting next to her and again yelled "Jesus is coming! Rapture is coming!" Darryl Ewing said several security guards quickly arrived on the scene and his wife was later sedated and put in restraints because of the incident.

Darryl Ewing said his wife was transported to Montevista Hospital. She stayed there for about five days and he attended psychiatric sessions with her. Upon being released his wife had medication prescribed to suppress the "visions" she was having and to quiet the voices she had been hearing. He said the medication was intended to stop her from "thinking about religion all of the time."

In June 2003, however, he said Sylvia Ewing went to the Philippines for three months with Philip and "threw away her medication." When she returned in September 2003, he said she appeared to be "normal."

A day before Ewing's two children would be found dead, however, Sylvia Ewing's second cousin, Lina Finn, said her cousin was anything but normal during a phone conversation.

Finn said Sylvia Ewing told her "the end of the world was coming" and asked her, "How can I save my children?" Finn said her cousin also said "God doesn't love me anymore."

Metro Detective Jeff Rosgen said at 3:23 a.m. the next day Sylvia Ewing purchased two candy bars and an aluminum baseball bat from Wal-Mart. Security tapes played in court on Wednesday showed Sylvia Ewing holding the bat in one hand and holding her son Phillip's hand with the other as she left the store.

Rosgen said a bloodied bat was discovered leaning against the wall of Ewing's apartment on Sept. 23, 2003, as were two unopened candy bars and the two dead children.