Bronx Mother Found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity in Sons' Deaths

A Bronx judge has found Dimone Fleming not guilty by reason of insanity for the 2022 stabbing deaths of her two young sons, a decision that comes as a high-profile Massachusetts case involving a similar defense reaches its conclusion. Fleming, now 26, was originally charged with first-degree murder in the killings of her children, 3-year-old Daishawn Fleming and 11-month-old Octavius Canada. The incident occurred on November 26, 2022, at a family shelter in the Mount Hope neighborhood of the Bronx. According to court records, police were called after shelter employees noticed smoke and water coming from Fleming's apartment. Officers found Fleming, then 22, in a state of erratic behavior, naked from the waist up and holding a children's book upside down. The bodies of her sons were discovered later that night by Octavius's father, Columbus Canada, who found them under a sheet in the bathtub with multiple stab wounds. Mental evaluations conducted by both the prosecution and defense determined Fleming was suffering from a severe psychotic episode at the time. Psychiatrist Dr.