Lawyer for Illinois mom who hanged 2-year-old son claims she was in ‘psychotic episode’

Corie Walsh, 38, has been charged with murder after her 2-year-old son was killed by hanging from the rafters of the basement. Prosecutors said that Walsh allegedly told police that she killed the child because she believed him to be the "anti-Christ" and the "devil." Prosecutors have also said that Walsh was extremely invested in the Clancy trial, where the Massachusetts mom admitted to killing her three children by strangling them and then tried to kill herself.

Walsh's attorney, Andrea Lyon, has claimed that Walsh suffered from a severe mental break at the time of the killing of her son. Police were called to the family's home on Tuesday after a teenage neighbor saw the toddler dead in the basement and started CPR. The child was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead. The coroner said that the child had been killed by asphyxia.

"It is also a tragedy that Corie herself was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time this happened. It is our hope that through a thorough presentation and investigation of the facts, that all of us will come to see this heartbreak for what it is," Lyon said, per CBS News.

Walsh was found with cuts on her wrists and thighs in her bathtub. She was taken to the hospital for the non-life-threatening injuries and has been transferred to the Will County Adult Detention Facility.

Walsh is set to appear in court on September 8. The Illinois Department of Child and Family Services said that they had no prior contact with the Walsh family until the incident took place.