A Tucson woman will spend the remainder of her life in a secure mental health facility for strangling her 10-year-old son to death.
Pima County Superior Court Judge Scott Rash sentenced Jean Cataline to spend the balance of her life under the supervision of the state’s Psychiatric Security Review Board in a secured facility for the Jan. 2013 murder of her son John Cataline.
Jean Cataline, 51, pleaded guilty except insane to the charge.
On the morning of the incident Jean Cataline called 911 to report she had tried to kill her son. When police arrived at the apartment complex at 2720 N. Swan Road, near East Glenn Street, they found she had strangled the boy with an electric cord.
He was taken to the hospital where he died eight days later after being taken off life support.
A review of court records does not show Jean Cataline had a prior criminal history.
Police reports at the time of the killing said her husband had recently died.
In an interview with the Arizona Daily Star in Feb. 2013, the victim’s aunt, Jean Cataline’s sister-in-law, said her brother was concerned about leaving the children alone with his wife because of her tendency to lose her temper.
Jean Cataline’s other son was placed under state custody.
Under state law, a person can be allowed to plead guilty except insane if “the person was afflicted with a mental disease or defect of such severity that the person did not know the criminal act was wrong.”
Guilty except insane pleas address the defendant’s mental state at the time of the offense. A defendant cannot plead guilty except insane if their mental incapacity was result of drug or alcohol intoxication at the time of the offense.
Jean Cataline was originally charged with first-degree murder and child abuse.
