... treated with a variety of drugs. Authorities said they are weighing whether to seek the death penalty. Her attorney, George Parnham, has said he won't discuss her defense until after her children's funeral Wednesday. Since the mid-1980s, postpartum depression has been introduced as a defense factor in murder cases nationwide, said Michelle Oberman, law professor at DePaul University in Chicago. "The best chance she has, if she's got any good chance, lies in hoping the jury understands the circumstances under which she was operating and to understand the reality of postpartum depression," Ms. Oberman said. Such defenses are still rare, said Ms. Oberman, whose book, Mothers Who Kill Their Children, will be released in August. Postpartum depression is a mental state resulting from chemical imbalances after childbirth, combined with stress. Most cases are mild, but some women enter a psychotic state and experience hallucinations and delusions. An estimated 10 to ...

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