Former reality television personality and Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Spencer Pratt has ignited controversy with remarks comparing mothers who kill their children to aggressive pit bulls that society should "exterminate." Pratt issued these statements following the acquittal of Dimone Fleming, a 22-year-old New York mother found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect in the November 2022 deaths of her two young sons.
Prosecutors and Fleming's lawyer agreed that she suffered from postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings. Her case has drawn comparisons to that of Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts mother facing similar charges for the deaths of her three children, who is also employing a postpartum psychosis defense.
"When a pit bull kills a kid, we exterminate them," Pratt wrote on the social platform X. "Theres [sic] no judgment behind it: we know it's an impulse they couldn't control." He continued, "But we also recognize that if your impulses lead to you killing kids, you need to be removed from society. Judgment aside, you just cannot be trusted and you need to be locked away forever. As a parent…if you kill your kids, your life is over anyway, so IDK what we are doing here."
Fleming was accused of stabbing her sons, 11-month-old Octavius Canada and three-year-old Daishawn Fleming, and then submerging them in a bathtub at a Bronx shelter. Court records indicate that Fleming had been receiving treatment for depression and anxiety prior to her children's deaths. She had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder and prescribed medication, but was reportedly using marijuana daily, which exacerbated her symptoms. A forensic psychiatric report stated that Fleming was "grossly psychotic and out of touch with reality" on the night of the killings, experiencing hallucinations and believing the world was ending and that a spirit had entered her body. Defense psychiatrists reported that Fleming believed her actions were necessary to protect or cleanse her children.
Fleming could be held at a high-security hospital for an initial six months, with indefinite extensions possible if her condition does not improve. Alternatively, she could be moved to a more open hospital for further evaluation if deemed mentally ill but not dangerous, or discharged with court-imposed conditions if found mentally fit.
In Clancy's case, prosecutors contend she intentionally planned the killings of her children, Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan, on January 24, 2023, before attempting suicide. Clancy, who remains paralyzed from the waist down, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. Both sides acknowledge she strangled her children. The killings occurred less than three weeks after Clancy was discharged from a psychiatric hospital. She had been prescribed numerous psychiatric medications. A jury began deliberations on Thursday, with the possibility of considering first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter charges. Jurors requested to review the knife used in Clancy's suicide attempt and pill bottles found in her home. Deliberations are scheduled to resume.
A Bronx assistant district attorney, Tiffany Wichman, stated that "prosecuting mothers does not and cannot prevent these crimes from happening, but public discourse might." Fleming's lawyer, Jodi Morales, described the case's outcome as a "result of collaboration," adding, "Everybody recognized what we were dealing with here. That doesn't happen often when you're on opposite sides of the table."