Kentucky mom Tiffanie Lucas to use insanity defense at trial as she faces murder charges for shooting deaths of her two young sons
A Kentucky woman accused of fatally shooting her two young sons plans to plead insanity at trial, court documents show.
Tiffanie Lucas, 32, is accused of fatally shooting her sons Maurice Baker Jr., 6 — affectionately called “Peanut” — and his half-brother Jayden Howard, 9, in their Shepherdsville home in November 2023.
According to police, the mother initially claimed the shooting was an accident and that she had been manipulated into committing the shooting.
A motion filed in Bullitt’s court on September 11 obtained by People said an attorney for Lucas plans to “plead a defense of insanity at the time of the alleged offense.”
‘[The defense intends] “to introduce expert evidence at trial regarding a mental illness, mental disorder or other mental condition relevant to the question of guilt and the question of punishment,” the filing said.
Tiffanie Lucas (pictured), 32, plans to plead guilty to insanity during her trial in the November 2023 shooting deaths of her two young sons
Maurice Baker Jr. (right), 6 — affectionately known as “Peanut” — and his half-brother Jayden Howard (left), 9, were murdered in their Shepherdsville home in November 2023
Lucas is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and the stepmother of one of the two boys has said the family will settle for nothing less than the death penalty.
The double shooting occurred on November 8. The boys’ bodies were discovered when the Bullitt County Sheriff’s Office received reports of gunshot wounds at Lucas’ Shepherdsville home.
When Lucas’ neighbor pulled into his driveway, he saw the 32-year-old man walking down his porch steps before collapsing.
She told him her “children were dying.” When the neighbor entered her home, he found the boys’ bodies in a bedroom and a gun on the bed.
The neighbor then called 911 and stayed with the boys until emergency services arrived and rushed them to Norton’s Children’s Hospital in Louisville.
They underwent surgery but eventually succumbed to their injuries.
Police seized Ring camera footage from a nearby home on the day of the shooting.
Four shots are heard in the video, after which Lucas runs outside and calls for help.
Lucas told detectives she left the gun in the bedroom and someone gave it to her. She admitted no one else was in the house that day.
Bullitt County Detective Richard Beahl said Lucas told police during an interview, “I’m in a really bad situation” and attributed the shooting to an accident.
According to police, the mother initially claimed the shooting was an accident and that she had been manipulated into doing it.
The boys’ bodies were discovered when a neighbor entered their home and found them in a bedroom with a gun on the bed
The stepmother of one of the two boys has said the family will accept nothing less than the death penalty for Lucas
“I’m so stupid,” she added. “I would never do something like that unless someone was manipulating me.”
Beahl testified that Lucas “made statements that she was manipulated through Facebook, the internet or Wi-Fi into doing what she did.”
On Facebook, 32-year-old Lucas posted heavily edited photos of herself and her two sons.
“I love my babies every day, I will always take any excuse to celebrate them and show them how special they are,” she wrote on Valentine’s Day 2022.
In another post she proclaimed, “I love my kings differently and that’s why Jayden and Peanut are different types of children. They are GOD sent and I am so focused on correcting and loving them longer and deeper from every wrong I’ve ever done or every hurt I’ve ever caused.”
She continued, “I can’t guarantee you much in life, BUT I can guarantee you that I will always be a mother, I will always share love, and the best I can ever give and do is PROMISED to you, my love, Jayden and Peanut!”