Monica McCarrick arraigned on murder charges for murder of her twin daughters, Lily & Tori, with a sword/A Solano County jury found 29-year-old Monica McCarrick guilty of the 2010 murder of her twin daughters/Jury finds her SANE../Sentenced to Life!

A former San Diego woman killed her twin daughters, set their apartment on fire and then tried to kill herself in a Northern California town, police said.

Detectives said Monica McCarrick used a sword to stab Lily and Tori, her 3-year-old girls, in the chest and stomach on Tuesday. The 28-year-old mother used the sword to slit her own throat and wrists moments after setting the closet on fire, according to the investigators.

Neighbors said they tried to help once they saw the flames, but the door to the apartment was blocked.

"Something was heavy at the door and they couldn't get in," said one neighbor.

Police said the door was blocked by the bodies of the two sisters.

Another neighbor shattered a glass door entering the home and said he was shocked by what he saw.

"Right there in the hallway I saw a bloody sword and bottle of pills," said Andre Douglas, the neighbor.

McCarrick recently moved into the apartment complex and was living with her fiancé, who was out of town during the incident, officials said. She allegedly called him while the fire alarm was going off, so he called his mother to tell her McCarrick had 'lost her mind.'

An ex-boyfriend of McCarrick said she recently lived in Carmel Valley with her mother and battled with depression.

The twin girls' father currently lives in San Diego.

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A very disturbing story is coming to light in the ashes of an apartment fire in the northern California.
Police say Monica Christine McCarrick killed her twin daughters, Lily and Tory, on Sept. 12 inside a Fairfield apartment before injuring herself and then setting the place on fire.

According to investigators, the father of the twins, Michael Ball, 38 -- whose last known address, according to court papers, was in El Cajon -- lives somewhere in San Diego County, but they have been unable to find him. Officials said that McCarrick and the twins lived for a time with the Ball in a La Mesa apartment but later moved to Pennsylvania, where McCarrick still has family.

Fire crews responded to a report of a fire Tuesday and then made a gruesome discovery once they got inside the smokey unit. Investigators say they think the children, who were 3 years old, were already dead from stab injuries before the fire was set.

A mother is accused of killing two daughter and...
Their 28-year old mother also suffered self-inflicted stab wounds. McCarrick was taken to a John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek and was taken to surgery for her injuries. Fairfield police released a statement reporting McCarrick was arrested on two counts of murder, two counts of child abuse resulting in death, one count of arson and one count of destruction of evidence.

Neighbors at the complex said the family has only lived there a short time. They did not know anything about a father or what could have motivated such an act.

Police said they were not able to talk to McCarrick before she went in to surgery, so a motive is unknown.
Police said that the McCarrick recently moved to Fairfield for a job. She suffered several stab wounds to her body and was listed in critical condition but is expected to survive.

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Neighbors believe in retrospect there could have been signs of trouble. Gladys Ortega lives below the family and she says on Monday, the mother parked her white Nissan sideways in the carport, blocking three spaces for hours.

Ortega says the mom sat alone, the girls were not in the car and another neighbor said that on Tuesday morning the girls were seen in the parking lot crying. Now flowers and candles are being placed outside the building to honor their memories.

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A search of McCarrick's Facebook page led to a community college in Maryland and a Pennsylvania church baptism notice for the twins, Tori Margaret and Lily Teri Ball, dated September 2008. Sheriff's officials confirmed the toddlers' identities.

A single bunch of pink roses and a burning candle sat Wednesday morning at the base of the staircase leading up to the apartment complex where McCarrick and her daughters had lived since September. They served as a tribute to the slain toddlers.

"She pretty much kept to herself," said neighbor Andre Douglas, who lives in the apartment directly below McCarrick. "You only saw them when they were coming and

Douglas was at home Tuesday night and recalls hearing several loud bangs -- different from the typical thudding of children playing.

"It was a lot more intense than would be normal," he said.

McCarrick is now out of surgery and is listed in stable but critical condition. She will be booked in Solano County Jail when she is released from the hospital.

The autopsies on the girls are scheduled to be completed today.

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- The Solano County coroner's office confirmed Thursday afternoon that two 3-year-old girls found dead in a burning Fairfield apartment Tuesday night died of multiple stab wounds and cutting wounds.
The girls were identified as Tori and Lily Ball. One of the girls was stabbed in the abdomen, Solano County sheriff's Lt. Gary Faulkner said. The autopsies were completed today.
Their mother, Monica Christine McCarrick, 28, allegedly cut herself and the girls before setting their North Texas Street apartment on fire, Fairfield police said.
McCarrick has been arrested for the girls' murders and is expected to remain at John Muir Hospital through the weekend, Fairfield police Lt. Darrin Moody Thursday afternoon.

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She could readily kill her twins but not herself? B.S!!

The Fairfield mother accused of killing her twin daughters with a sword was arraigned this afternoon within John Muir Hospital in Concord, and has been formally charged with two counts of first degree murder.

Monica Christine McCarrick, 28, is facing murder charges after allegedly stabbing her 3-year-old daughters to death and then setting a fire. McCarrick has been hospitalized since Tuesday night and is still in critical condition.

Along with the murder charges, she is facing two counts of assault on a child that resulted in death.

It is unknown at this time how much longer she will remain at John Muir Hospital, but she is listed in stable but semi-critcal condition due to her self-inflicted injuries.

McCarrick did not enter a plea, and no court date has been set at this time.

According to a CBS13 source, the Fairfield mother has had a problem with methamphetamine in the past.

A source tells CBS13 that McCarrick has used methamphetamines in the past and that investigators found a bottle of pills inside her apartment. The source also says she placed her daughters' bodies against the front door to make it more difficult for rescuers to get to them.

A psychiatrist says McCarrick could be suffering from a case of post-partum psychosis which he describes as an actual break from reality and caused by a chemical imbalance.

"She would be depressed about anything and everything for no particular reason. It's a biological depression," said Dr. Peter Cotsirilos of Western Sierra Psychiatry.

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The woman Fairfield police say killed her twin 3-year-old daughters last week has been arraigned on murder charges from her hospital bed, officials said.
Monica Christine McCarrick, 28, entered a "not guilty" plea Friday, and the Solano County Public Defender's Office was appointed to represent her.
McCarrick is in sheriff's office custody, though still in the hospital recovering from what police say were self-inflicted wounds.
McCarrick's case is set to be heard in Superior Court at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 17, when a trial judge will be appointed to the matter.

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Fairfield mom accused of killing two daughters appears in court

Shackled to a wheelchair, her arm wrapped in bandages, the woman prosecutors say killed her two 3-year-old daughters and then cut her own neck and wrist last week made her first court appearance Wednesday morning.
Monica Christine McCarrick, 28, was wheeled into Solano County Superior Court in Fairfield, a healing laceration wound visible on her neck, and her right hand and arm in heavy bandages.
She showed no emotion, staring straight ahead and then speaking quietly to Solano County Deputy Public Defender Elena D'Agustino as Judge Peter B. Foor assigned the case to his own courtroom and set a readiness conference for 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 18.
McCarrick was arrested Oct. 12 after police and fire crews rushed to her Fairfield apartment in response to a fire call. Upon entering the apartment, they found her twin 3-year-old daughters, Tori and Lily Ball, dead and McCarrick suffering from what police have said are self-inflicted lacerations.
An autopsy performed on the twins by the Solano County Coroner's Office one week ago determined that the girls died from multiple stab and cut wounds.
A neighbor who entered the home during the fire told the media that he saw a bloody sword in the apartment hallway.
McCarrick was rushed to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek for emergency treatment and was arraigned from her hospital bed on Friday.
She has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, two counts of child abuse resulting
in death, one count of arson and one count of destruction of evidence.
Deputy District Attorney Terry Ray said her office has yet to decide on whether or not to seek the death penalty in the case.
Investigators have released no information on what might have preceded the incident. McCarrick had moved to the apartment within the past couple of months and had no previous contact with police, authorities have said.

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The Fairfield mother charged with fatally stabbing her twin 3-year-old daughters at their burning apartment last week was booked into Solano County Jail on Tuesday afternoon.
Monica Christine McCarrick, 28, was booked at about 2:45 p.m. on two counts of murder and two counts of assault on a child causing great bodily injury or death. She is being held without bail.
Fairfield police said McCarrick tried to commit suicide by cutting herself and burning her third-floor apartment at the Summit at Paradise Valley complex at 3001 N. Texas Street on Oct 12.
She was recovering from her injuries at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek until she was booked into jail on Tuesday. She pleaded not guilty to the charges at the hospital on Friday.
Solano County Superior Court Judge Peter Foor today set Nov. 18 for the setting of a preliminary hearing date.
McCarrick is represented by Deputy Public Defender Elena D'Agustino, who was unavailable for comment this morning.
The Solano County coroner's office said the girls, Tori and Lily Ball, died of multiple stab and cutting wounds. Their bodies were found in the burning apartment.
Neighbors tried to enter the apartment, which police said was locked from the inside. One neighbor who attempted the rescue reported seeing a bloody knife or sword inside the apartment.

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She showed no emotion, staring straight ahead and then speaking quietly to Solano County Deputy Public Defender Elena D'Agustino as Judge Peter B. Foor scheduled a readiness conference for 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 18.

Terry Ray said her office has yet to decide on whether to seek the death penalty in the case.
Investigators have released no information on what might have preceded the incident.

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Mother accused of murdering twin daughters with samurai sword makes first court appearance

BY MEENA HARTENSTEIN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, October 26, 2010

A mother accused of killing her 3-year-old twin daughters with a samurai sword made her first court appearance on Tuesday, shackled to a wheelchair and wrapped in bandages.
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Monica McCarrick allegedly stabbed her daughters Tori and Lily Ball on Oct. 12, set fire to her apartment and then turned the samurai sword on herself in an apparent attempt to commit suicide.

Neighbors noticed smoke coming from her apartment and ran to help, according to the Vacaville Reporter, even breaking down McCarrick's front door.

Andre Douglas, the first neighbor to respond, told the Reporter that the smoke was so thick he had to abandon going through the apartment's main entrance and managed to break in through a sliding glass door that led to McCarrick's bedroom.

He then crawled through the dark apartment, struggling to see through the smoke.

"Once I actually got past her room there was a sword, a bloody katana-style Japanese fighting sword, in the hallway and a bottle of pills," Douglas said.

Firefighters were notified by an alarm going off in the building and responded to the scene quickly.

McCarrick, 28, was immediately hospitalized and placed on suicide watch.

She has since been released and sent to prison.

An autopsy confirmed that the twins died from being stabbed multiple times.

According to the Reporter, The District Attorney's office has not decided whether to pursue the death penalty for McCarrick.

She faces charges of murder, child abuse, arson and destruction of evidence and has pleaded not guilty.

According to court records reported by the San Jose Mercury News, McCarrick is linked to a 2006 domestic violence case, as well as a child support case from 2009 involving the twins' father, Michael William Ball.

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'Woman used samurai sword to butcher her twin daughters, 3, before slashing her own throat'

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 5:03 PM on 18th October 2010
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Accused: Monica McCarrick is suspected of stabbing to death her twin daughters Lily and Tori

A young mother is to be charged with murder after her twin three-year-old daughters were hacked to death with a samurai sword.

In horrific details about the double murder and attempted suicide, investigators say Monica McCarrick killed the little girls and then propped their bodies against the front door of the apartment in a bid to prevent rescuers from getting in.

Firefighters made the grim discovery of the girls, Lily and Tori, after being called last week to a fire in a flat where they lived with McCarrick.

The 28-year-old was found near the bodies of the twins with a self-inflicted sword wound to the throat. She will be charged with murder after being released from hospital.
Investigators said the head of one of the girls had almost been decapitated. The other suffered multiple stab wounds to the stomach.

McCarrick then set fire to the flat in Fairfield, California, and placed the lifeless bodies of her daughters against the front door before trying to kill herself.

Neighbours had desperately tried to force their way into the flat after noticing smoke seeping from under the front door and smoke alarms going off.

Traumatising: Investigators outside the Fairfield home where the murder/suicide attempt took place
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Andre Douglas was able to break into the third-floor flat through a window and saw the alleged murder weapon on the floor.

'Once I actually got past her room, there was a sword, a bloody katana-style Japanese fighting sword, in the hallway, and a bottle of pills,' he said.

Police do not yet know a motive for the double murder and have been attempting to track down the twin's 38-year-old father Michael Ball.

They have been unable to interview McCarrick in hospital because of her injury.

Police reports show that McCarrick had previous arrests for using drugs. She was also involved in a domestic violence arrest in San Diego.

Scene of horror: An investigator carries a bundle from inside the burned apartment where the bodies of the two little girls were found
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One report said McCarrick called her fiancée while the fire alarm was going off. It’s alleged that her fiancée called his mother and told her Monica had ‘lost her mind’.

Police said McCarrick will be charged with two counts of murder when she is released from John Muir Medical Centre. She will also face two counts of child abuse resulting in death, and one count each of arson and destruction of evidence.

Fairfield police lieutenant Darren Moody said it appeared to be a murder-suicide.

'We have no evidence that anyone else was involved,' he told local media. 'The doors and windows were locked from the inside.'

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Ben Deci
FOX40 News
October 20, 2010

FAIRFIELD, California— Monica McCarrick didn't walk, but rather was rolled into court. Still, she looked well for a woman who, police say, injured herself so severely that she needed to be arraigned in her hospital room. That was less than a week ago.

Her right hand and arm: clearly bandaged..... her right foot also looks to be in a cast.... but if there were ever any injuries to her neck, they aren't visible now.

Reporter Information:

It is difficult to tell what other wounds her county stripes may be hiding. McCarrick sat still and stoic as her attorney and the judge set a calendar for her case.

What could possibly going on inside Monica McCarrick's head right now?

The most revealing moment came before she even entered the courtroom. The bailiff turned to her defense attorney and whether he could expect any trouble- whether McCarrick had been a behavior problem. Her defense attorney shook her head 'no.'

McCarrick has reportedly been on suicide watch, as prosecutors prepare to try her for butchering her twin daughters Lilly and Tori with a samurai sword, and then setting a fire in the apartment where they all lived.

"All of these competing emotions can be at play. You can grieve a loss that you caused." said Fairfield defense attorney Thomas Maas. Maas has taken scores of cases as a public defender. He says McCarrick's mental health isn't just a safety concern, it could also play a role in her defense.

"I try my best to ascertain the reason that this person did something so contrary to human nature, and/or their own personal nature," Maas said. "Because that could be something that becomes relevant in their defense later."

As McCerrick herself sits quietly, the question that may be impossible to answer, may be the most important for the rest of her life: "why?"

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Fairfield Mom Pleads Not Guilty To Killing Twin Daughters

October 19, 2010 9:40 AM

FAIRFIELD (AP) – A Fairfield mother has pleaded not guilty to charges that she murdered her 3-year-old twin girls.

Authorities say 28-year-old Monica McCarrick stabbed the girls multiple times before attempting to take her own life and set fire to her apartment. Fire and police officials responding to the Oct. 12 blaze found the bodies of the girls, Tori and Lily Ball.

McCarrick was arraigned on murder charges from her hospital bed at John Muir Medical Center on Friday. The Solano County Public Defender’s Office was appointed to represent her.

Investigators have not released a possible motive or the weapon used in the attack. But a neighbor who entered the apartment during the fire has said he saw a bloody sword and a bottle of pills in the hallway.

A court hearing on the case was scheduled for Nov. 17.

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District Attorney Will Not Seek DP against Monica McCarrick in 2010 Murders
« on: April 23, 2011, 01:05:16 PM »

D.A. will not seek death penalty against mother in slashing case

By Reporter Staff

Posted: 04/23/2011 01:09:55 AM PDT

A Fairfield mother accused of killing her twin daughters before trying to burn down their apartment pleaded not guilty in Solano County Superior Court on Friday.

Monica McCarrick, who has been held for trial after a preliminary hearing wrapped up last month, is facing two counts each of murder and child abuse resulting in death.

However, Deputy District Attorney Terry Ray announced that her office would not seek the death penalty against McCarrick during the brief hearing. WHY NOT????

McCarrick, was arrested Oct. 12, 2010, the victims' birthday, after Fairfield police and fire crews responded to a blaze at a North Texas Street apartment where they found the children, Tori and Lily Ball, dead of multiple stab wounds and McCarrick suffering from apparently self-inflicted wounds.

Superior Court Judge Peter B. Foor set 8:30 a.m. June 15 for a readiness conference and trial setting in the matter.

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September 09, 2011 | Posted by Jess Sullivan
Fairfield woman accused of killing her children returns to court

Monica McCarrick, 28, is accused of killing of her 3-year-old twin daughters. She has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

FAIRFIELD — The mother accused of fatally stabbing and mutilating her twin 3-year-old daughters was in court briefly Friday.

Monica C. McCarrick, 29, was ordered back to court Oct. 7 after she was told two psychiatrists needed more to review medical records before completing reports about her sanity. McCarrick has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity for the killings.

McCarrick is set to stand trial in January 2012.

McCarrick allegedly used a samurai sword to repeatedly stab and cut her daughters, Tori and Lily Ball, in their North Texas Street apartment on the night of Oct. 12, 2010.

McCarrick then tried to kill herself and started a fire that brought firefighters and police to the grisly crime scene.

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December 29, 2011 | Posted by Jess Sullivan

Trial delayed for mother accused of killing twin daughters

Monica McCarrick, 28, is accused of killing of her 3-year-old twin daughters. She has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

FAIRFIELD — Next month’s scheduled start of a murder trial for a Fairfield mother accused of fatally stabbing and cutting her twin 3-year-old daughters was postponed Thursday until June.

Authorities believe Monica McCarrick killed her daughters, Tori and Lily Ball, on the night of Oct. 12, 2010, in her North Texas Street apartment.

McCarrick, 29, had been scheduled to begin trial Jan. 31. Judge Peter B. Foor postponed the start of the trial Thursday until June 5, 2012.

McCarrick has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. She is in jail without bail.

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I am putting a Google Alert on this horrific senseless tragedy.

TORI AND LILY BALL | Visit Guest Book

BALL, TORI AND LILY Sept. 12, 2007 to Oct. 12, 2010 Tori Margaret Ball and twin sister Lily Teri Ball were born in San Diego on September 12, 2007. On October 12, 2010, they received their angel wings after a tragic incident. Such beautiful little girls, full of life, love and smiles to spare. Although their time with us was brief, they touched the hearts of so many. They will always be loved and adored by all who knew them. As twins, they shared a very special bond, one that only they could understand, and one that will last an eternity. Tori and Lily will be missed dearly, but will forever l ive in our hearts. They are survived by their father Michael William Ball; mother, Monica McCarrick; grandparents Terry and Mel Fay, Ronald and Joyce Ball, Margaret McCarrick and Sassan Haghgoo; great-aunt Jennifer McCarrick; aunts and uncles Lori and Edward Magdaleno, Julie and Todd Allen, Nathan Haghgoo and Brandon Haghgoo; cousins Kate Allen, Adrianna, Kayli, and Thomas Magdaleno. Private services have been held. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children, Inc.

Published in San Diego Union-Tribune on November 7, 2010

A Fairfield mother accused of killing her twin daughters and then attempting to burn down their apartment made a brief appearance in Solano County Superior Court on Thursday where a judge agreed to postpone a jury trial that had been set for next month.

Monica McCarrick was arrested on Oct. 12, 2010, the victims' 3rd birthday, after Fairfield police and fire crews responded to a blaze at her North Texas Street apartment. Police and fire crews found the children, Tori and Lily Ball, dead of multiple stab wounds and McCarrick suffering from what investigators have said were self-inflicted wounds.

McCarrick has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to two counts each of murder and child abuse resulting in death.

However, attorneys are still waiting for an additional psychological evaluation to be performed and both sides petitioned the judge to delay the jury trial date set for Jan. 31.

Judge Peter B. Foor granted their request and set 9 a.m. on June 5 for a jury trial. The trial is estimated to last three weeks.

Foor set a trial management conference for 8:30 a.m. on May 4.

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By Jess Sullivan
June 08, 2012
Monica McCarrick, 28, is accused of killing of her 3-year-old twin daughters. She has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

FAIRFIELD — A jury began hearing testimony Thursday in the murder trial for a Fairfield mother accused of slaughtering her twin 3-year-old daughters in their North Texas Street apartment on the night of Oct. 12, 2010.

The 29-year-old mother, Monica McCarrick, has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

The first witness prosecutor Terry Ray put on the witness stand was Fairfield Fire Department Capt. Jim Willey, who was one of two firefighters who discovered the small bodies of Tori and Lily Ball in a bloody and smoke-filled apartment. McCarrick is accused of starting a fire that triggered an alarm, leading authorities to the crime scene.

Willey choked up and started crying as he described picking up one of the girls and carrying her out of the apartment.

Willey’s tears came just minutes after McCarrick had been weeping and sobbing as Ray briefly showed jurors pictures of the dead children and the wounds McCarrick allegedly inflicted on the girls with a Samurai sword.

Ray told jurors in her opening statement that the girls were savagely stabbed as they sat in high chairs before she slit their throats, nearly decapiating one of the girls and nearly severing one girl’s arm. Ray also told jurors that McCarrick took her dead daughters’ bodies and used them to block the apartment door before starting a fire and trying unsuccessfully to commit suicide using the sword.

McCarrick’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Elena D’Agustino, all but conceded McCarrick’s killing of her daughters in her opening statement. She told jurors that McCarrick thought killing her daughters “was the best thing to do at the time.” D’Agustino said McCarrick believed her husband was going to take the girls away from her and that they would be beaten, raped, caged and enslaved for eternity.

“She felt she had two options . . . an eternity of pain and brutality or death and heaven,” D’Agustino told jurors. “She had no malice in her heart, she only had love.”

D’Agustino and Ray agree there will be little dispute about what happened in the apartment during the first phase of the trial when jurors decide on McCarrick’s guilt or innocence for the murder charges. Both expect testimony about the killing to be completed by next week. After a verdict, if McCarrick is found guilty, the same jury would hear witness testimony, much of it from psychiatrists, in a sanity phase of the trial.

The prosecution case against McCarrick is set to resume Friday in the courtroom of Judge Peter B. Foor.

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Emotion high in Fairfield woman's murder trial
BY RYAN CHALK/ [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Posted: 06/09/2012 01:03:24 AM PDT

After less than two full days of testimony, prosecutors are nearly done presenting their case against a Fairfield woman accused of killing her twin daughters with a samurai sword before attempting to set fire to the apartment they shared in 2010.

When the trial resumes Tuesday for Monica McCarrick, 29, who is charged with two counts of murder with special circumstances and two counts of assault on a child causing death, Prosecuting Deputy District Attorney Terry Ray indicated that she would only have a few more witnesses to call before resting her case. McCarrick has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

But that doesn't mean that the trial, which has included grisly photographs of the alleged murder scene and its two victims, will end soon.

McCarrick's defense counsel, Deputy Public Defender Elena D'Agustino, who has spent little time cross-examining the prosecution's witnesses, may present evidence on her client's behalf. If McCarrick is convicted of killing 3-year-olds Tori and Lily Ball, the same nine-woman, three-man jury would begin to hear evidence in the sanity phase of the trial.

Testimony has been emotional at times.

Retired Fairfield Fire Capt. James Willey fought back tears on the witness stand as he recounted the night of Oct. 12, 2010, when he and his crew responded to a fire-alarm call. When firefighters arrived at McCarrick's North Texas Street apartment, a small fire was growing inside.

Willey described how the front door was ajar but would not fully open, as if something was blocking it.
Willey used his shoulder to bust open the door so he and another firefighter could get inside, he said. Due to the smoke, Willey crawled along the ground, pulling a hose, and began to search for anyone who might still be in the apartment.

Due to low visibility, he used the hose to retrace his way back to the front door and found the first victim.

"That's when I saw one of the little girl's faces," Willey testified.

"I saw one of their little faces on the ground. My first initial thought was that it was a doll," he added, choking back tears.

Jurors also heard from Robert Paulson, McCarrick's fiance.

Paulson testified that he was out of state on a business trip when he received some disturbing calls from McCarrick.

"She wasn't really coherent or making a lot of sense when she was talking," Paulson testified.

He described McCarrick as freaking out when he heard her on the phone say, "It's going to be all right, it's going to be all right. We're going to make a fire."

Those words were followed by screams and the sound of a fire alarm in the background, Paulson testified.

Jurors also had a chance to see the samurai sword police recovered from the apartment, as well as photographs of the interior.

Fairfield police Sgt. Rob Lenke testified that police found two areas of blood near the front door, where the children were found, and in the dining area.

Pictures showed a chaotic scene in which the twins' high chairs were bloody and toppled on the floor of the apartment. Ray, in her opening statement, told jurors that McCarrick slashed the twins to death in their high chairs before placing them near the front door and setting a fire in a closet nearby.

McCarrick was found by firefighters in the kitchen suffering from what appeared to self-inflicted wounds, according to testimony.

The trial is set to continue at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday in the Fairfield courtroom of Judge Peter B. Foor.

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This woman obviously lost it... but isn't it strange that so often the self-inflicted wounds are not fatal like the ones committed on the victims!?

I thought the same thing! She should have just stabbed herself to death instead of those precious children. I cannot imagine the pure horror they went through. Makes me sick!

Fairfield suspect 'was not rational'
BY RYAN CHALK/ [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Posted: 06/13/2012 01:05:02 AM PDT

Prosecutors rested their case on Tuesday in the jury trial of a Fairfield mother charged with the grisly slashing death of her twin daughters in 2010, setting the stage for the defense attorneys to present their case.

Monica McCarrick, 29, is charged with two counts of murder with special circumstances and two counts of assault on a child causing death in relation to the Oct. 12, 2010, deaths of her twin 3-year-old daughters Tori and Lily Ball. McCarrick has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to allegations she used a samurai sword to kill the children before setting fire to a closet in the North Texas Street apartment they shared. When firefighters responded to the scene, McCarrick was found with what appeared to be self-inflicted wounds, according to testimony.

Prosecuting Deputy District Attorney Terry Ray rested her case, but not before calling several witnesses to testify about McCarrick's behavior just before she is alleged to have killed her children.

Terry Fay, who's son is the father of the deceased children, testified to receiving a phone call from McCarrick the day before their deaths.

"She said, 'Who's going to pick up the girls?' '' Fay testified.

Sensing a problem, the Southern California resident then told McCarrick she would begin making arrangements to take custody of the girls.

"She was not rational. I thought something was going on," Fay testified.

The cause of McCarrick's reported irrational behavior
leading up the deaths is a matter of debate as Chief Deputy Public Defender Elena D'Agustino began to present witnesses and evidence on McCarrick's behalf on Tuesday.

After D'Agustino's motion asking Judge Peter B. Foor to rule that Ray had not presented sufficient evidence to support a first-degree murder charge was struck down, argument shifted to how much evidence related to McCarrick's sanity and character would be allowed.

D'Agustino recalled Robert Paulson, McCarrick's fiance, who testified that McCarrick's behavior began to change about two or three weeks before the alleged killing of the twin girls. Paulson was out of state on a business trip during this time.

He described the daily phone and text message conversations he had with McCarrick during this time as "balderdash," including her intermittent fears that he was going to harm her.

But testimony came to a halt and Foor excused the jury just as D'Agustino began to question Roxanne Paulson, Robert's mother.

Foor excused the jury early to take up the issue of D'Agustino presenting character evidence and the prosecution's right to refute it with opposing testimony and evidence.

Ray argued that if D'Agustino was going to present evidence of McCarrick's good character leading up to the incident, she should be able to introduce evidence of her bad character, namely what Ray described as McCarrick's alleged past methamphetamine use and an alleged conviction for battery on a peace officer.

The trial is set to continue at 9:30 a.m. today in the Fairfield courtroom of Judge Peter B. Foor.

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Mother, friend of accused killer testify in Fairfield double-murder trial

By Jess Sullivan
Daily Republic

Monica McCarrick, 28, is accused of killing of her 3-year-old twin daughters. She has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

FAIRFIELD — The mother of a Fairfield woman standing trial on a pair of murder charges took the witness stand for her daughter Wednesday.

Monica McCarrick, 29, is accused of savagely killing her twin daughters one night in October 2010. She has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

Fairfield firefighters went to McCarrick’s North Texas Street apartment on the night of Oct. 12, 2010, where they found McCarrick with serious self-inflicted injuries and her two dead daughters, Tori and Lily Ball.

McCarrick’s mother, Margaret McCarrick, described details of a visit by her daughter and the 3-year-old granddaughters a few weeks before the killing.

Margaret McCarrick described her daughter’s behavior during the visit as very anxious and disorganized. Monica McCarrick also expressed fears about her husband and raised concerns that he might harm her.

A longtime friend of Monica McCarrick also testified. She said she exchanged text messages and phone calls with McCarrick in which McCarrick feared her fiance was going to kill her and make it look like a suicide.

“She was really, really scared,” the friend said, describing McCarrick reading an obituary for the fiance’s former girlfriend who McCarrick thought had been murdered by the fiance who made the killing look like a suicide.

The defense case for McCarrick was put on hold early in the day with her attorney explaining that the remaining defense witnesses would be unavailable until Friday.

Judge Peter B. Foor ordered jurors to return Friday morning when the defense is expected to wrap up its case.

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A Solano County jury this afternoon convicted a Fairfield mother of the first-degree murders of her twin daughters in their apartment in 2010.

The jury also convicted Monica McCarrick, 29, of two counts of child abuse causing death, Solano County Deputy District Attorney Courtney Anderson said.

Neither the prosecutor in the case, Terry Ray, nor McCarrick's attorney, Chief Deputy Public Defender Elena D'Agustino, were available for comment late this afternoon.

McCarrick pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. A trial began Tuesday in Solano County Superior Court to determine if she was insane at the time of the Oct. 10, 2010 slayings.

McCarrick's twin 3-year-old girls, Tori Ball and Lily Ball, were found dead in their mother's burning apartment. They died of multiple stab and cutting wounds from a samurai sword.

Fairfield police said McCarrick then tried to commit suicide by cutting herself and burning her third-floor apartment at the Summit at Paradise Valley complex at 3001 N. Texas Street.

Attorneys presented closing arguments earlier today before the jury began deliberations.

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BY RYAN CHALK/ [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Posted: 06/16/2012 01:32:04 AM PDT

It took a nine-woman, three-man Solano County Superior Court jury less than two hours Friday to return a verdict of guilty in the trial of a Fairfield mother charged with the deaths of her twin 3-year-old daughters in 2010.

The jury convicted Monica McCarrick, 29, of two counts of first-degree murder -- one count for each of the girls, Tori and Lily Ball. In addition, the jury found McCarrick guilty of two counts of assault on a child causing death.

The two-week trial began with the emotional testimony of police and fire personnel who responded to McCarrick's North Texas Street apartment on Oct. 12, 2010, for a report of a fire.

Inside, retired Fairfield Fire Capt. James Willey crawled along the ground, pulling a hose, and began to search for anyone who might still be in the apartment.

Due to low visibility, he used the hose to retrace his way back to the front door and found the first victim.

"That's when I saw one of the little girl's faces," Willey testified.

"I saw one of their little faces on the ground. My first initial thought was that it was a doll," he added, choking back tears.

During the trial, jurors were shown photographs of the apartment and the twins after their deaths. One of the girls was nearly decapitated, and both had defensive wounds to their arms and hands, which prosecuting Deputy District Attorney Terry Ray argued were from McCarrick's slashes with a samurai sword as they sat helpless in their high chairs.

Ray also argued the evidence showed that McCarrick's attempt to destroy the evidence by setting fire to a closet next to where she placed the twins' bodies, pointing to her guilt.

"She knew what she did, she knew what her act was and she knew it was wrong," Ray said.

In her closing argument, Ray also painted a portrait of a mother struggling by herself to care for the girls. Her fiance, Robert Paulson, frequently traveled for work and had been out of state for about a month before the killings.

Terry Fay, whose son (not Paulson) is the father of the twins, testified to receiving a phone call from McCarrick the day before their deaths.

"She said, 'Who's going to pick up the girls?' " Fay testified.

Sensing a problem, the Southern California resident then told McCarrick she would begin making arrangements to take custody of the girls, but it would be too late.

McCarrick's defense counsel, Chief Deputy Public Defender Elena D'Agustino, did little to refute evidence that McCarrick killed the twins before turning the sword on herself in a failed suicide attempt. Instead, D'Agustino relied on testimony from friends and family to prove her unstable mind at the time of the incident. D'Agustino focused on text messages and phone conversations McCarrick had with people in the weeks leading up to the deaths in which she expressed fear that her fiance was going to harm her and her children.

"It's clear that Ms. McCarrick was perceiving things that were not real," she added.

Just as Ray argued McCarrick's actions were intentional and premeditated, D'Agustino argued otherwise.

"I would suggest that had Ms. McCarrick been in her right mind and been thinking rationally, she would not have done what she did to her twin daughters in the manner it was done," D'Agustino said.

Because McCarrick had pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity, the case will now move to a sanity phase, in which the jury will be asked to determine whether she was insane at the time of the killings.

The trial is set to resume at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Fairfield courtroom of Judge Peter B. Foor.

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Is this new? I always thought the sanity or lack thereof was determined PRIOR to trial.

Good question wrap. I wondered the same thing as I read that. Since when does a Jury decide this after the conviction?

IDK, but I kind of like it.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Prosecutor cross-examines doctor as Fairfield murder case insanity phase continues
By Jess Sullivan

FAIRFIELD — The same expert defense witness who told jurors Tuesday that the Fairfield mother who killed her twin 3-year-old daughters with a sword in 2010 was insane at the time of the killings was cross-examined for hours Wednesday, with much of that questioning focusing on methamphetamine addiction.

A jury found Monica McCarrick, 29, guilty last week of premeditated murder for killing Lily and Tori Ball on the night of Oct. 12, 2010. Because McCarrick has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, jurors are now weighing the question of whether McCarrick was insane at the time of the murders.

Dr. John Shields used the general term “substance abuse” several times Tuesday. On Wednesday during Shields’ second day on the witness stand, prosecutor Terry Ray got much more specific.

Ray labeled McCarrick as a “big-time meth addict” from the age of 18 to 29.

Shields acknowledged that methamphetamine addiction and abuse can lead to paranoia and a lot of the same behaviors friends and family observed in McCarrick in the days, weeks and months before she stabbed, impaled and slashed the throats of her daughters.

Ray illustrated the paranoia Shields pinned on insanity as instead being methamphetamine-induced by having Shields recall McCarrick saying she smoked meth at her fiance’s mother’s home in the garage a few days before the killings, and that the statement came at the same time she expressed fears that she and her daughters were being fed poisoned pizza.

McCarrick self-reported to Shields using meth as little as three days before the murders.

McCarrick also told Shields that her use of hard drugs such as LSD, cocaine and psilocybin mushrooms started at the age of 13 but that for years her drug of choice was methamphetamine.

“I used it as often as I could,” McCarrick told Shields during one of their interviews, adding that she would pick boyfriends in part by their ability to fuel her methamphetamine use.

McCarrick said she had used methamphetamine throughout her adult life, pausing only for the months when she was pregnant with her daughters.

Ray showed jurors a copy of a text message McCarrick sent to her fiance two days before the murders, referencing a previous conversation in which he had said using methamphetamine as a weight control tool would be OK.

Ray also showed jurors reports, from the jail since McCarrick was locked up, about her being caught using cocaine in her cell and her correspondence with another inmate about how to fake insanity and suicide attempts so they could both spend time together in the hospital and not in the jail.

Ray also showed jurors photographs of McCarrick trying on wedding dresses with a smile on her face a few days before the killings.

“Does she look like she is in some delusional state in these photos?” Ray asked Shields.

Three more defense experts in sanity are expected to testify in the next few days.

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BY RYAN CHALK/ [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Posted: 06/23/2012 01:03:18 AM PDT

After days of testimony from mental health experts, the defense rested its case on Friday in the sanity phase of trial for a Fairfield mother convicted of the first degree murders of her twin daughters in 2010.

A nine-woman, three-man Solano County Superior Court jury could begin deliberating on Tuesday whether Monica McCarrick, 29, was legally insane on Oct. 12, 2010, when she killed her children, 3-year-olds Tori and Lily Ball. Her defense counsel, Chief Deputy Public Defender Elena D'Agustino, presented experts who testified that McCarrick was suffering from paranoid delusions from a untreated mental illness at the time of the incident and was in fear that her children were about to be kidnapped, enslaved and raped.

Friday's testimony came from a court-appointed mental health expert and forensic psychologist, Dr. Janice Nakagawa, who met with McCarrick several times in Solano County Jail and evaluated the reams of documents related to her mental health and the investigation into the deaths.

Nakagawa testified that it was her professional opinion that McCarrick was not feigning mental illness. The opinion came after days of testimony in which Prosecuting Deputy District Attorney Terry Ray confronted other experts called by the defense with an incident report in which McCarrick reportedly sent a jailhouse letter, or "kite," to a male inmate advising him of how he could fake the symptoms of mental illness so that they could meet up in the suicide ward.

"Doesn't that show she knew how to fake mental illness?" Ray asked.

After a pause, Nakagawa replied, "She understands how to get from one place to another."

Nakagawa also testified that it was her opinion that McCarrick met the legal definition of insanity.

Ray has argued otherwise, stating that it was McCarrick's methamphetamine use that caused the paranoid delusions.

McCarrick admitted to doctors that she used the drug in the days leading up to the killings.

Ray questioned the doctor about the manner in which the children were killed, asking if she was aware they were placed in their high chairs before McCarrick used a samurai sword to slash their bodies. Ray further inquired whether Nakagawa questioned McCarrick about why she chose a "quiet" weapon instead of a gun, which their were several of in the apartment. Nakagawa testified that she felt it wasn't important in forming her opinion that McCarrick did not understand the nature and quality of her act.

Ray also confronted Nakagawa with evidence that McCarrick blocked the front door with the girls' bodies so that people couldn't get inside once she set a fire to a nearby closet. Nakagawa admitted that she did not ask McCarrick about why she did that, however, it was her opinion that McCarrick had no idea what she was doing was legally and morally wrong.

Ray went further by asking Nakagawa about a phone conversation McCarrick had with her fiance at the time of the killings in which she reportedly told him, "If Lily and Tori are OK, tell them it was an accident."

"Doesn't that show that she knew what she did was wrong?" Ray asked.

"Not necessarily," Nakagawa replied.

Attorneys are expected to give closing arguments on Tuesday, when the trial resumes at 9:30 a.m. in the Fairfield courtroom of Judge Peter B. Foor.

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By Ryan Chalk/The Reporter, Vacaville
Published By Times Herald

Posted: 06/26/2012 08:15:03 PM PDT

A nine-woman, three-man Solano County Superior Court jury ruled Tuesday that Monica McCarrick, 29, was sane on Oct. 12, 2010, when she killed her children, 3-year-olds Tori and Lily Ball.

The verdict in the sanity phase of McCarrick's trial came after just a few hours of deliberation earlier Tuesday.

McCarrick showed no response as the decision was announced. Judge Peter Foor ordered her back to court in August for sentencing.

Her defense counsel, Chief Deputy Public Defender Elena D'Agustino, had presented experts over the course of a sanity phase of trial who testified that McCarrick was suffering from paranoid delusions from an untreated mental illness at the time of the incident and feared that her children were about to be kidnapped, enslaved and raped.

"It led her to believe she had no other options," D'Agustino said in her closing argument.

However, Deputy District Attorney Terry Ray told jurors that it was McCarrick's years of methamphetamine use that led her to kill the children, arguing that the times McCarrick had suffered from delusional behavior throughout her life coincided with periods of documented or admitted drug use.

Two weeks ago, the same jury convicted McCarrick of two counts of first degree murder - one count for each child. In addition, the jury found McCarrick guilty of two counts of assault on a child causing death. It was found that she used a samurai sword to slash and stab their bodies before setting a small fire in their Fairfield apartment and attempting suicide.

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Monica McCarrick listens to the jury decision on whether or not she was insane when she killed her twin daughters during her sentencing Tuesday at the Solano County Superior Court in Fairfield. The jury found her to be sane. (Conner Jay/Daily Republic)

Last week, we told you how meth doesn't really foster good maternal instincts.

Here's another case in point.

Monica McCarrick, a 29-year-old mom on meth, will be in prison for life after a jury decided she was completely sane when she killed her twin daughters with a samurai sword back in October 2010.

KTVU reports that McCarrick, a Fairfield resident, tried to say she was innocent because she was insane when she slashed her 3-year-old twins, Tori and Lily Ball. McCarrick allegedly tried to commit suicide after the slayings by cutting herself and setting her third-floor apartment on fire.

When police arrived, they found the twins with multiple stab wounds in the doorway of the burning apartment.

Despite the fact that three doctors testified that she was legally insane on the night of the murders, prosecutors convinced jurors otherwise after detailing McCarrick's meth habits.

McCarrick admitted to psychologists that she used meth on a daily basis for years, and as recently three days prior to the killings. State law says you don't qualify for the insanity plea if you were under the influence of drugs or alcohol when the crime was committed.

She will be sentenced on Aug. 6.
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I have to say..she looks pretty in that pic but I think what did her in was the meth. Had she not done drugs and done this horrible murder to her children, she may have gotten off on the insanity plea.

Fairfield's Monica McCarrick sentenced to life in the killing of her twin daughters

BY RYAN CHALK/ [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Posted: 10/02/2012 01:06:48 AM PDT

A Fairfield mother gave a tearful apology in Solano County Superior Court on Monday for the brutal slashing deaths of her twin daughters in 2010 and then was sentenced to two life terms in prison without the possibility of parole.

Monica McCarrick, 29, expressed her "deepest sorrow" for the Oct. 12, 2010, slayings of 3-year-olds Tori and Lily Ball. In June, a nine-woman, three-man jury convicted her of two counts of first-degree murder -- one count for each of the girls in addition to two counts of assault on a child causing death.

The same jury also rejected her not guilty by reason of insanity plea.

"I feel really bad. I pray for all of you every day and I wish there was something I could do to ease the pain for both of our families," McCarrick said.

"I love Tori and Lily more than anything in the world. I'm so sorry," she added.

The three-week dual-phase trial began with the emotional testimony of police and fire personnel who responded to McCarrick's North Texas Street apartment on Oct. 12, 2010, for a report of a fire. Inside, one of the girls was nearly decapitated, and both had defensive wounds to their arms and hands, which prosecuting Deputy District Attorney Terry Ray argued were from McCarrick's slashes with a samurai sword as they sat helpless in their high chairs.

McCarrick's mother, Margaret, also addressed the court, attributing her daughter's difficult childhood and mental illness for the incident and asking that she be placed in a
mental facility instead of prison.

The father of the twin girls, Michael Ball, also made an emotional statement before Judge Peter B. Foor, but instead of asking for leniency, he went on to describe an "unconscionable" crime committed by the "defendant," never referring to McCarrick by her name.

"I will miss all of the joys of my father-daughter relationship," Ball said.

While evidence of McCarrick's history of mental illness was presented at trial, jurors also heard evidence that McCarrick's methamphetamine use caused her to suffer paranoid delusions. McCarrick admitted to doctors that she used the drug in the days leading up to the killings.

"One glaring fact not mentioned by any person on behalf of the defendant, and I think this was also critical in the jury's finding, and that was this defendant's choice of drugs," Foor said.

"There is not a worse drug than methamphetamine," he added.

Foor sentenced McCarrick to two consecutive life sentences in state prison, each without the possibility of parole. Two additional 25-to-life state prison sentences for the two counts of assault on a child causing death were stayed.

McCarrick was also ordered to pay $6,361 to the state Victim's Compensation Board in addition to a $10,000 fine. McCarrick was given the opportunity to file a notice of appeal within 60 days.

Ray called the deaths of Tori and Lily Ball, "One of the most brutal murders ever."

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