Woman sentenced to state hospital for assaulting her baby

A woman was convicted Wednesday of assaulting her 18-month-old daughter during a family gathering in Warrenton last year.

Kayla M. Marlow, 22, pleaded guilty within the limits of insanity in Clatsop County Circuit Court to first-degree assault and was taken into custody by Oregon State Hospital. Marlow will stay there for a maximum of twenty years, with credit for 633 days already.

While visiting family for a birthday party in March 2023, Marlow had gone to the bathroom to change her baby. Prosecutor Sarah Shepherd said when Marlow’s mother and grandmother noticed she had been gone for a while and the baby was crying excessively, they ran to the door.

“They eventually get the bathroom door open, see a lot of blood and discover that Mrs Marlow has tried to slit the 18-month-old baby’s wrists,” she told the court. “She also had some superficial wounds to her wrists, but the main injury was to the baby.”

Marlow told police she had slit her baby’s wrists and began slitting her own wrists because she believed the world was going to end.

After her arrest, Marlow was examined by a doctor and found to be suffering from schizophrenia.

“I literally thought there would be an earthquake if I didn’t do what I did,” she told the court during her sentencing. “So it wasn’t out of hate, it wasn’t out of, you know, anything negative. I love my daughter. I really…I tried to help her in my own way, in my head.”

Judge Kirk Wintermute said Oregon State Hospital would be the best place for Marlow to ensure everyone’s safety.

“I know that schizophrenia in particular can be very scary for people, and they can do things that they would never do,” he said. “It can really change the way your brain works in very scary ways. And I know it’s scary for you, obviously it’s scary for the family too, and I’m just glad she’s okay because it could have been a lot worse.

‘I’m glad it wasn’t, but this is clearly something we need to keep a close eye on, and hopefully they can figure out a way to give you the right balance of medicine and therapy. And you know, with a diagnosis like that you can still be successful in life, but it takes a lot of work.”

The Oregon Psychiatric Security Review Board will determine when Marlow can be released.