Mother: Watts should withdraw his guilty pleas
Christopher Watts’ mother says her son was coerced by his lawyers into pleading guilty to murdering his wife and two daughters, and that he should withdraw his pleas and contest the charges — especially the killing of his two girls, which she believes he didn’t commit.
“I know he confessed, but he was railroaded into it,” Cynthia Watts, of Spring Lake, N.C., said Monday in regard to her son’s guilty pleas in the murders of his 34-year-old wife, Shanann, and daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3. “I want him to take back the plea deal.”
Cynthia Watts said she believes her son’s public defenders were only focused on saving their client from a possible death penalty and did not represent his best interests. She said she believes her son should have received a psychiatric evaluation to determine his mental state when he killed his wife.
She added that she believes the story Christopher Watts told to his father, that he killed his wife after he discovered Shanann Watts had strangled their daughters to death.
Christopher Watts is represented by the public defender’s office in Weld County, which has a policy of not commenting about the cases of its defendants.
Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke could not be reached for comment, but he previously has stated that the defendant’s claim that his wife killed their daughters was a “flat-out lie.”
Denver attorney H. Michael Steinberg said that if Christopher Watts wishes to withdraw his guilty plea, it is possible the judge would consider that before his sentencing, which is scheduled for Monday. But he would have to offer a better explanation than just the fact that he changed his mind. One possibly valid reason would be that Christopher Watts has not received a psychological evaluation, Steinberg said.
“That would be a significant issue. This case is so high profile the judge may want to make sure everything was done appropriately,” Steinberg said.
Christopher Watts, 33, of Frederick, pleaded guilty on Nov. 6 to killing his pregnant wife and two daughters. He has admitted that he hid their bodies in an oil field. The plea agree- ment stipulates he serve three consecutive life sentences for the three murders — a deal made to avoid the death penalty.
A family friend reported that Shanann and her daughters were missing on Aug. 13. Police arrested Watts later in August after the girls’ bodies were found in an oil tank on the property of Anadarko Petroleum, the company where Christopher Watts worked. Their mother’s body was found in a shallow grave nearby.
Cynthia Watts said she and her husband repeatedly tried to speak with their son alone, but his attorneys wouldn’t let them.
On one occasion, when she said, “Chris, you did not do this. Don’t confess,” she said her son’s attorneys ended the conversation immediately.
“They stonewalled him. My son deserved to be defended,” Cynthia Watts said.
Cynthia Watts described her son as someone who never lost his temper and always did what his wife asked of him.
“How does he go from a decent person to a killer?” she asked. “If he won’t fight for his daggone self, I will.”