Bench trial begins for South Florida mother accused of drowning toddler; defense cites COVID-induced psychosis

A bench trial began Monday for a South Florida woman accused of drowning her 15-month-old daughter, with her defense team arguing she was temporarily insane due to a psychotic episode linked to COVID-19.

Jurors were not present because the case is being decided by a judge.

During opening statements, attorneys for Precious Bland played body camera footage recorded as first responders treated her after police say they found her daughter dead in a bathtub in 2021.

"God is coming back," Bland said in the footage.

"Satan is a deceiver," she later said.

Bland's attorney, Larry Handfield, argued the footage demonstrates that his client was experiencing hallucinations and a severe mental health crisis.

"This was a person that was suffering from hallucinations. That was suffering from a mental defect," Handfield told the court.

Prosecutors charged Bland with murder after investigators said she confessed to drowning her daughter. Handfield argued Bland was suffering from a psychotic episode brought on by COVID-19 and noted that both the defense's expert and the prosecution's expert concluded she was experiencing psychosis at the time.

"These were voices in her head that were directing her and telling her what to do," Handfield said.

Bland appeared subdued during the proceedings and at times struggled to keep her eyes open as prosecutors delivered their opening statements.

Prosecutors argued that while Bland may have been suffering from mental health issues, she still understood what she was doing.

"She was verbalizing that the baby needed to stop breathing. So she was holding her down to make sure she stopped breathing," a prosecutor said during opening statements.

The state also challenged the defense's argument that COVID-19 caused the child's death.

"COVID is not the issue in this case. There will be no clear and convincing evidence that COVID made this defendant drown her 1-year-old daughter," the prosecutor said.

Bland's husband, Evan Bland, testified that his wife had been acting unusually on the day of the child's death.

"I'm a victim. My family is a victim. And yeah, I mean Precious is a victim in this as well," he told the court.

Handfield said he is not seeking to have Bland institutionalized, arguing that both psychological evaluators determined that level of treatment was unnecessary. Instead, he is pursuing a temporary insanity defense.

The trial is expected to continue for several more days before a judge reaches a verdict.