Judge: Mom’s confession in sons’ deaths can be used at trial

Associated Press

Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016 | 12:02 a.m.

BELLEFONTAINE, Ohio — A recorded police interrogation of an Ohio woman saying she smothered her three young sons can be used during her trial, a judge ruled Friday.

The Logan County judge found that Brittany Pilkington's recorded statements to police Aug. 18, 2015 were voluntary. The judge also found there were "no overt threats or inducements" in the interrogation.

Pilkington, 24, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of aggravated murder. She says in the recording she smothered each boy with a blanket because she didn't want to see them suffering. The boys, two infants and a toddler, were killed at different times over 13 months.

Pilkington's lawyers argued the statements were obtained unconstitutionally. The defense team said authorities pressured Pilkington into confessing, and she didn't understand what she was doing when she agreed to be interviewed without a lawyer.

Defense attorney Marc Triplett didn't immediately return a call seeking comment on Friday's ruling.

Prosecutors argued Pilkington knowingly agreed to be interviewed without a lawyer and she was advised of her rights by officers at the police station and then again at the sheriff's office.

Authorities allege Pilkington killed the boys out of jealousy at the attention her husband gave them.

Pilkington told officers she let her husband find the bodies when he returned home from his second-shift job because she was too scared to tell him what she'd done.