My Mother Died in the Phoenix Fire

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Prank call prompted lockdown at Apache Junction schools. Hoarding made fighting Avondale house fire very difficult. It told how, repeatedly, she'd sought help from Valley mental-health agencies and failed to get it in the weeks before she killed her children. A nurse at one of those agencies labeled Blake as a "danger to children.

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But the safeguards in place to keep potentially dangerous individuals such as Blake from hurting themselves and those around them failed catastrophically. Though Johnny Fausto showed little public emotion over his mother's sentencing, such was not the case on Valley talk-radio shows and around the courthouse. Some went so far as to say that, if they were in charge, they'd keep Blake from the array of medications she needs to minimize her constant physical pain, and from the drugs said to mitigate her serious mental illness.

But even veteran deputy county attorney Noel Levy conceded that each of three mental-health experts who recently evaluated Kelly Blake agreed she was insane when she led her kids into the little shed.

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One of those experts says Blake's treatment plan has been going well. Susan Baumann wrote in a report prepared for the court.

You have successfully signed up for your selected newsletter s - please keep an eye on your mailbox, we're movin' in! Under that law, authorities are not supposed to confine someone to a mental institution after the basis for confinement no longer exists. But Arizona law also bars a person found guilty-but-insane from asking the state's Psychiatric Security Review Board for release until days after sentencing, or for 20 months after that, if the board turns down the first request. Most of those in attendance at Blake's sentencing paid scant attention to a short exchange between Judge Schwartz and Phoenix attorney Art Gorman on that topic.

Gorman is representing Blake and Johnny Fausto in a Superior Court civil suit against the mental-health agency that turned the troubled mother away before the fire.

Earlier, Gorman submitted papers alleging that the day rule is unconstitutional because it "does not contain release provisions sensitive to, and triggered by a patient's recovery of sanity. Blake cannot be committed to the state hospital and must be returned to the same nursing facility where she has lived for the past three years.

The judge denied Gorman's request. Actually, the odds that the board will release Blake from the state hospital after the day period are slim, whatever her mental state. Of the 95 individuals under the board's jurisdiction as of June 22, only a handful have been released to the "community," and all but a few of those people under strict supervision. We use cookies to collect and analyze information on site performance and usage, and to enhance and customize content and advertisements. By clicking 'X' or continuing to use the site, you agree to allow cookies to be placed. To find out more, visit our cookies policy and our privacy policy.

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