Mom under psychiatric treatment - drugs kids, sets fire

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http://www.freep.com/article/20081202/NEWS05/81202047/1006/news

Mom accused of drugging kids awaits exam

BY CHRISTINA HALL • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • December 2, 2008

A Warren mother accused of trying to kill herself and her two children by drugging them with prescription medication and setting a fire will undergo a psychiatric exam to determine if she is competent to be tried in the case.

A preliminary exam today for Friedly, 32, was adjourned pending the forensic center testing. Her attorney, Pietroski, asked Judge M. Faunce in Warren’s 37th District Court to reduce Friedly’s $1-million bond, but the judge declined. Friedly, who appeared in court in a blue Macomb County Jail jumpsuit, will return to the lockup.

Friedly is charged with two counts of assault with intent to commit murder and one count of arson of an occupied dwelling in the Nov. 18 incident at her house in Warren. If convicted of the assault charges, she could spend up to life in prison.

Police said Friedly brought her son, 13, and daughter, 10, home early from school under the guise of a doctor’s appointment. She concealed the medication in their hot chocolate and then set her bed upstairs on fire.

The boy helped his sister escape and called 911. A passerby helped Friedly exit the house, police said.

“This is just a real tragedy,” Pietroski said after the hearing, which was attended by a half-dozen of Friedly’s supporters including her mother, boyfriend and co-workers.

He said his client is a “super mom” and has a good work history.

“I don’t think she’d ever hurt those kids,” he said.

Pietroski and Friedly’s mother, Eve Coccaro, 54, of Warren, said Friedly has worked as a security guard at the General Motors Tech Center in Warren for a couple of years. Her hours were cut back and her shift was changing.

Coccaro said her daughter has depression and high anxiety and is bi-polar and that she was working with counselors and a psychiatrist.

“This is not my daughter at all,” she said of the allegations.