Mother in hangings to get defense funds
Berks County Judge Paul M. Yatron has ruled that an Albany Township mother charged in the hanging deaths of her son and daughter is indigent and will receive county funds for expert witnesses in her death penalty case.
Lisa R. Snyder, 37, is accused of two counts of firstdegree murder and related charges in the Sept. 23 deaths of her children, Conner, 8, and Brinley, 4, in the basement of their home at 2400 block of Route 143.
She is in Berks County Prison without bail.
Prosecutors said they are seeking the death penalty because the alleged crimes meet the threshold of aggravating factors required in Pennsylvania for a capital case.
The primary aggravating factors are that there were two victims and both were children, District Attorney John T. Adams said.
Snyder’s attorney, Dennis Charles of Allentown, filed a pretrial motion in June asking the court to declare Snyder indigent because she does not have any assets to fund her defense.
A hearing that was closed to the public in accordance with the law was held in July.
Charles said Thursday that the law requires the defense in death penalty cases to provide expert witnesses.
He plans to hire an investigator and a mitigation specialist to provide testimony on factors relevant to proving Snyder does not deserve the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder.
Assistant District Attorney Meg McCallum said Thursday that she couldn’t comment because the case is an active prosecution.
According to court records:
Police and paramedics found Snyder’s children hanging from opposite ends of a plastic coated dog lead that had been wrapped around the main support beam of the basement ceiling.
Each end of the lead was wrapped around the victims’ necks. Two chairs were tipped over on the floor on either side of the bodies, which were about 3 feet apart.
They were revived on their way to the hospital, but both were pronounced brain dead, taken off life support three days later and died, officials said.
When Snyder spoke with first responders she wasn’t crying, and told them that Conner was being bullied at school, appeared stressed when he got off the school bus that day and asked her for the dog lead before going into the basement with his sister.
Other witnesses contradicted her claims that Conner was depressed.
Conner’s occupational therapist said the boy wasn’t physically capable of fastening the dog lead around his own neck, let alone his sister’s.
Internet searches from a number connected to a missing phone of Snyder’s were found for how to hang oneself with a “short drop, single suspension.”
Her online accounts also showed photos of her forcing a dog to perform sex acts on her, so she was also charged with bestiality and cruelty to animals.