DETROIT — A Detroit mother accused of murdering two of her four children and keeping their bodies in a deep freezer was ready to plead guilty Friday.
"I'm freely giving myself and accepting life in prison," Mitchelle Blair said, adding she would take the death penalty if it existed in Michigan.
A crew carrying out an eviction notice at the Martin Luther King Apartments discovered the bodies of Blair's children, Stoni Blair and Stephen Berry, in a freezer in the family's living room March 24.
Blair, 37, confessed again Friday. She said she killed because siblings abused one of her children, an 8-year-old now in the care of a relative.
Officials said they have no evidence to substantiate Blair's allegations.
"I don't want him to see that I stood here like a coward," she said. "I did what I did. And I did what I did for my baby. Period."
Blair faces felony murder, first-degree premeditated murder, torture and child-abuse charges and was found competent to stand trial.
She was not allowed to plead guilty Friday, and 36th District Judge Kenneth King told her he hasn't received one of the reports from an independent competency examination showing that she has been deemed competent.
Blair, who waived her preliminary examination, is scheduled to be arraigned June 26 in Wayne County Circuit Court.
King told her the charges have ver serious consequences, and if she were to plead guilty to first-degree murder, she faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
"I know this," Blair responded.
Her lawyer, Wyatt Harris, spoke after court and said a determination of what his client pleads to has not yet been made, but prosecutors offered no plea deal.
"She understands what's going on," he said. "She's clear about it."
She is remorseful and wants to show her son she is accepting responsibility for her actions, Harris said.
"It's her decision," he said, adding he'll protect her interests as best he can.
Blair is accused of killing Stephen in 2012 when he was 9 and Stoni in 2013 when she was 13. Stephen died from multiple blunt trauma and thermal injuries and Stoni died of blunt trauma to the head, according to Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office.
The children had been beaten and burned before their deaths and were severely malnourished, officials said.
In a separate child-protective proceeding involving Blair's two other children, her 8-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter — both now with a relative — Blair has had repeated outbursts.
"Yes, I did kill her!" Blair yelled during one of them. Another time, she called Stephen's death was "unintentional."
Blair is accused of severely abusing all four of her children. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is seeking to terminate her parental rights as well as the parental rights of their fathers, Steven Berry and Alexander Dorsey, both of whom are fighting to keep their rights.
Stephen Berry, left, and his sister Stoni Blair were buried side by side. (Photo: Detroit Police Department)
