A Georgia mom who believed she was “pouring” evil into her infant while breastfeeding her was convicted of killing the child.
Chloe Driver, 24, fatally stabbed her 13-month-old daughter Hannah. Throughout her trial, prosecutors said that Driver was driven to kill Hannah because she wanted to keep her husband, the baby’s father, to herself.
Chief Assistant District Attorney Katie Gropper told the court that Driver’s spouse had two other wives and that their polygamist group held “radical views” and practiced “alternative” medical procedures, such as drinking their own urine.
A jury heard how Driver struggled with an unstable background, a history of mental illness, and a “abusive and oppressive” marriage until she “snapped” and stabbed her infant and herself in December 2020.
Defense attorneys tried to construct an image of a lady who had been abused and coerced by her claimed cult leader husband. They stated that the infant died as a result of her mental instability and excessive views.
Driver has pled not guilty due to insanity to counts including malice murder, felony murder, first-degree cruelty to children, and aggravated assault.
But, after a six-day trial and after three hours of deliberation, a jury declared her guilty beyond a reasonable doubt but mentally ill on all charges, rejecting Driver’s insanity plea and finding her criminally liable for her acts.
The murder of baby Hannnah
On December 8, 2020, police came to a home in Canton, Georgia, where they discovered a mother and her infant girl with stab wounds inside a bedroom.
Driver was sleeping on a mattress close to bloodied infant Hannah, grasping her hand. Both were brought to the hospital, where the baby died of her injuries.
According to police, Driver took a knife from the butcher block in the kitchen, locked herself and her infant in the bedroom, and repeatedly stabbed her.
They were discovered by the baby’s father, Benyamin Ben Michael, also known as Brian Joyce or “Z” – who allegedly let out a “blood-curdling scream” as he asked Driver, “What did you do?”
Driver was married to a man with two other wives.
Dr. Carli Blomquist, an emergency department doctor who treated Hannah, testified during Driver’s trial that the baby was “empty of blood” when she was brought in.
‘She wanted him to herself’
A letter allegedly written by Driver was read in court during her trial, revealing her terrifying confession concerning the crime.
“He did not do it.” “I did it,” she had wrote, alluding to her husband, Benjamin Michael. “I was going insane and didn’t want to be around his friends, but I kept coming back for him.” I just wanted my baby and my spouse, but he refused.”
The prosecution stated in court that “she wanted to be with him, and he was never going to give up his polygamist cult lifestyle that they had adopted.”
However, the defense said that Driver’s assertion that she killed the child to have Ben Michael all to herself “defies logic” because she would have killed all of the other wives.
“If she wanted him to herself, wouldn’t she have gotten rid of the competition?” the defense said.
Before the jury was summoned to reach a decision, the defense asked them to find her guilty on the grounds of insanity, claiming that Driver was in a delusional state at the time of the baby’s murder and unable to discriminate between right and wrong.
“Justice for Hannah in this case is getting her mother the treatment she needs,” added the attorneys.
Did a polygamist cult drive Chloe Driver to murder?
According to Dr. McLendon Garrett, in the months preceding up to baby Hannah’s murder, Driver stated that she was “seeing signs” that convinced her Ben Michael and the other spouses wanted her to kill herself and her kid.
Dr. Garrett, a forensic psychologist who interviewed Driver after the murder, testified for the defense, claiming that the mother was paranoid and had delusions before her baby died.
Driver was diagnosed with schizoaffective illness, borderline personality disorder, and marijuana use disorder. She ascribed Driver’s mental health issues to a terrible childhood and abusive relationships.
“She had a very unstable childhood,” Dr. Garrett explained. “Her family was chilly, and she had left them several times, staying with boys and even leaving the state to live with one. She had suicidal thoughts early on and attempted self-harm, including cutting and overdosing on sleeping pills.”
Driver then met her husband when she was 17 years old and he was 38, and she joined a nomadic religious group led by her husband, whom Dr. Garrett believes played a significant impact in her mental health.
“She was incredibly isolated,” Dr. Garrett explained. “She was not permitted to speak with anyone unless it was for recruitment purposes. She couldn’t go shopping, use money, or use her phone without monitoring. Her only jobs lasted two weeks, and they were out of need.”
According to witness evidence, the group is strictly vegan and engages in unconventional health treatments such as drinking their own pee.
Driver also informed the doctor about the control she was under and how she would be punished, which included “dark therapy,” in which she was confined to a bed with her windows closed, denied bathroom access, and forced to urinate on herself.
After Hannah was born, Driver began to question the group’s doctrines, particularly the lack of infant care, including immunizations, and the simple requirement of a birth certificate.
“She was concerned her baby wouldn’t have a normal life,” Dr. Garrett explained. “But realized she wasn’t going to get that with Ben Michael.”
Driver’s paranoia and delusions worsened, but when she sought the other wives for help, they allegedly gave her CBD oil, which exacerbated the symptoms, according to Dr. Garrett.
She felt like the women had ganged up on her and convinced her that she and the baby were “sinful.”
“She believed she was downloading her sin – all the bad parts about her – into her child through breastfeeding,” Dr. Garrett told me. “She also talked about pouring her sin into the child.”
“There was a lot of evidence that she really believed by having a child with somebody who was married — by having the child in this sort of open relationship — that it was a sin and that she passed that sin on to her daughter,” according to Dr. Garrett. “And so they shared that — that they were both embodiments of sin.”
When asked about the “specific trigger” that pushed her over the line, Dr. Garrett stated that Driver informed her she was outraged when Ben Michael threw a soiled shirt at her when she begged for something clean so she could change Hannah.
That incident could be “the straw that broke the camel’s back” after months of illusions, Dr. Garrett suggested.
“She was incredibly isolated and mentally unwell,” she told me. “Her relationship with the group and its dynamics created a perfect storm.”
A perfect storm that resulted in Hannah’s terrible death.
“From that moment on, I snapped,” Driver said Dr. Jacquelyn Zahm, who also evaluated her after the murder.
Disturbing claims of ‘dark therapy’ and urine drinking
In an unusual piece of testimony, Driver’s pal took the stand in an orange jail jumpsuit and told the court about Driver’s polygamous lifestyle and unconventional health practices.
Jason Spillars, who is charged in a separate case in North Carolina, described Ben Michael’s household as “harmonious and supportive,” but patriarchal, with the man in charge because men are “better decision-makers, they can regulate their emotions in a way that women cannot, and they’re just better leaders,” he stated.
Spillars provided an intimate peek into the group’s polygamous lifestyle, including disturbing assertions that they engaged in rituals such as ingesting urine and isolating “dark therapy.”
Despite this, he stated that all three women married to Ben Michael were satisfied with their positions, and that Driver’s participation was choice and based on shared ideals, not force.
Spillars stated that his companion had previously experienced periods of mental instability, and that in the months preceding up to Hannah’s murder, her delusions and paranoia had grown.
He then became upset on the stand as he described what he saw on the day the infant was murdered. He remembered walking into the room to find Ben Michael performing CPR on Hannah and seeing blood everywhere.
As he applied pressure to Driver’s stab wounds, he recalled a friend begging him, “Stop, I’m supposed to die.” Spillars broke down in tears, insisting that Driver was a loving mother who loved her daughter.
Her mom begged her to come home
Renee, the driver’s mother, said she and other family members tried desperately to persuade her to leave Ben Michael, but nothing worked.
“I tried everything I could to get her to stay with me, but it didn’t work,” Renee told the court as she became upset.
After Hannah was born, their communication was “minimal,” but Renee knew Driver “was a very good mother and she loved her daughter.”
Driver brushed away tears, her lips trembling as her mother testified.
After Hannah was born, Renee stated that her daughter and granddaughter could move in, but Ben Michael was not welcome because Renee “didn’t want anything to do with him.”
Renee reported that in July 2020, she began noticing changes in her daughter, characterizing her as being in a zombie-like state rather than herself.
“Nothing really changed with Hannah — just her,” Renee told me. “She was literally coming apart. I mean, she was absolutely coming apart, but at the time, I wasn’t paying any attention to her because, you know, I had Hannah, and I was just so delighted every time I saw Hannah.
The verdict
Jurors deliberated on Driver’s fate for six days after hearing testimony from 21 witnesses and viewing horrific crime scene images.
The young mother remained impassive as the decision was read in court on Wednesday.
She was judged guilty, although mentally ill, of killing her infant girl.
The “guilty but mentally ill” decision indicates that the jury rejected her insanity claim and judged her criminally accountable for her crimes.
The driver will be sentenced on December 12. Until then, Driver will be in the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections, which will be in charge of her mental health care.