A 43-year-old Topeka mother pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of attempted murder for giving her daughters, 14 and 9, Kool-Aid laced with prescription medicine.

Defendant Shakina Dauniel Lawton, who has a history of mental health problems, is to undergo a psychiatric evaluation before she is sentenced on April 1.

In Shawnee County District Court, Lawton pleaded guilty on Thursday to two counts of attempted second-degree murder.

Before the plea agreement, Lawton faced two charges of attempted first-degree murder.

Senior assistant district attorney Todd Hiatt said the plea agreed to by prosecution and defense attorneys included that Lawton would serve concurrent prison sentences and that she would undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

District Judge Richard Anderson said Lawton’s criminal history had either one misdemeanor conviction or no convictions at all. That means Lawton would be sentenced to terms ranging from four years and seven months to five years and one month. Concurrent prison terms would mean Lawton would serve the two sentences at one time. The judge could sentence Lawton to consecutive terms, meaning she would have to serve the two sentences one after the other. After her release from prison, Lawton will have to sign in four times a years with a local sheriff’s office as a registered offender for 15 years, Anderson told Lawton.

Chief public defender Stacey Donovan, Lawton’s defense attorney, asked that a local psychiatrist evaluate Lawton because an analysis at Larned State Hospital would require waiting several months. In giving a factual basis for the plea agreement, Hiatt said that on July 26, Lawton hadn’t been taking her medication for mental health ailments, including bipolar disorder and depression. Bipolar disorder is marked by episodes of mood swings ranging from depressive lows to manic highs.

Lawton brought her daughters, 14 and 9, into the kitchen, told them to sit down and gave them Kool-Aid with a medication mixed in it, Hiatt said.

The 14-year-old girl called 911 about 4:30 p.m. July 26 from the Weatherwood Apartments, 2045 S.W. MacVicar, and told dispatchers that her mother was trying to poison her and her 9-year-old sister with prescription medication, according to earlier Topeka Capital-Journal articles.

On Thursday, Hiatt said the younger child had overdosed on the Kool-Aid and medication mix. The older daughter told police what happened that day, including that her mother had remarked that she wanted to die.

The two children, who weren’t in court on Thursday, are in the care of relatives.

Lawton had waived having a preliminary hearing on Nov. 6.