Mom pleads not guilty to killing her 3 children

The Phoenix mother accused of smothering her three children to death entered a not-guilty plea on Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court.

The arraignment hearing was Rachel Henry’s first public court appearance since police said she admitted to killing her three children, all under the age of 4, on Jan. 20.

Henry’s attorney, public defender Alan Tavassoli, entered the not-guilty plea for her. Henry was shackled and wearing the traditional orange Maricopa County jail pants and an orange shirt that overwhelmed her small frame. Her long, straight brown hair shielded her face from news cameras.

She spoke only to murmur her name and date of birth, her response barely audible in the large courtroom.

Tavassoli declined to comment on Henry’s case following the brief hearing.

Henry was formally indicted on three counts of first-degree murder last week. She’s being held in a Maricopa County jail on $3 million bail. She’s next scheduled to appear in court on March 24.

The 22-year-old mother told police that she sang to her children as she strangled them to death in their home, court records show. She did not provide police with a motive for the alleged killing, but family members said she previously struggled with drug addiction and had been acting strangely in the weeks leading up to the murders.

The children — identified as 3-yearold Zane Ezri Henry, 23-month-old Mireya Henry and 6-month-old Catalaya Kyeana Rios — were buried in Henry’s hometown of Prague, Oklahoma over the weekend.

First-degree murder charges would make Henry eligible for the death penalty in Arizona. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will decide whether to pursue a capital case against Henry.