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UPDATED STORY:Mom pleads guilty but mentally ill in killing of 3-year-old daughter

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A woman who’s accused of killing her 3-year-old daughter in Jackson Township is asking a judge to throw out all of the charges, arguing that she could not form intent for the crimes because of her “impaired mental state/insanity.”

In a motion filed on July 13, Suzanne Smith, Regina Lester’s attorney, wrote that her client has the burden to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that she is legally insane. Testimony from the preliminary hearing indicated that she had an “altered level of consciousness.” She was also committed to Torrance State Hospital for more than one year and, at the time, diagnosed with substance-induced psychotic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder with dissociative symptoms.

Smith said in an interview that Torrance State Hospital doesn’t keep people there beyond what's needed. She said she's in the process of hiring an expert.

"Her being up there a year tells me she was experiencing some issues," Smith said. "You can't fool Torrance for a year."

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Lester, 32, of Jackson Township, is charged with first- and third-degree murder and related offenses. She bit and strangled her daughter, Isabel Godfrey, on June 8, 2016, telling a neighbor while naked and hugging a tree that she didn’t mean to but “had to get the darkness out of her,” Northern York County Regional police said.

Police reported finding several packages of synthetic marijuana and a pipe inside her mobile home.

She’s also accused of kicking a nurse technician at York Hospital, which is where police took her from the scene.

The motion, alternatively, asks for various other rulings, including that her statements to law enforcement be suppressed.

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“We will not be commenting on the motion recently filed by defense counsel,” said Kyle King, a spokesman for the York County District Attorney’s Office, “however, we do look forward to litigating the matter in court.”’

Lester is expected back in court on Aug. 8.

Contact Dylan Segelbaum at 717-771-2102.