LAWRENCE CO.— The sentencing hearing for Brittany Medina, the Mitchell woman who pleaded guilty but mentally ill to the drowning deaths of her two young children, has been postponed.
The hearing, initially scheduled for today, October 23, at 9:00 a.m., has been rescheduled to December 2 at 9:00 a.m. at the defendant’s request.
Medina, of Mitchell, entered a plea of guilty but mentally ill to two counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, both Level 1 felonies. The charges stem from the tragic deaths of her three-year-old son, Jackson Shelton, and one-year-old daughter, Madelyn Shelton, in September 2023.
Details of the Tragic Incident
According to court reports detailing the events of September 26, 2023, Medina admitted to authorities that she had ingested a mix of substances, including Xanax, Suboxone strips, and cocaine, before the incident.
Medina recounted that around 2:30 p.m. that day, she began hearing voices. She claimed the voices urged her to “send her children to Heaven” or face torture. Believing she had to comply to protect herself and her children, Medina admitted to taking both Jackson and Madelyn into the bathroom of their home and holding them underwater in the bathtub until they stopped moving.
Following the act, Medina reportedly drove herself to the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department, where she confessed to an officer that she had drowned her children. The subsequent investigation led by Detective Michael Williams corroborated her account of the children’s deaths and her arrest.
