Minnesota Mother Charged With Attempted Murder After Drowning Daughter in Battle Lake

Jasmine Marie Laws, 35, allegedly held her 15-year-old daughter's head underwater at Battle Lake, MN. Witnesses heard her shout: "I gave you life, I can end your life."

Maryland Mother Faces Attempted Murder Charge After Attack on Daughter at Minnesota Lake

A 35-year-old Maryland woman was charged with attempted second-degree murder after allegedly trying to drown her teenage daughter at Battle Lake in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, Law & Crime reports. Jasmine Marie Laws was released from the Otter Tail County Jail and ordered to have no contact with her 15-year-old daughter pending further court proceedings.

Deputies from the Otter Tail County Sheriff's Office were called to the scene on Sunday afternoon following reports that Laws had attempted to hold the girl underwater during a physical altercation on a pontoon at the lake.

Two conflicting accounts

When deputies first spoke to Laws, she said she had been lying on the pontoon when her daughter began hitting her with a towel. Laws told police she threw the girl's phone into the water in response. She acknowledged holding her daughter down by the nape of the neck at the water's edge after the girl began punching her, but maintained that the girl was submerged only from the chest down, with her head and shoulders above water. Laws also told officers her daughter was "never underwater for more than three seconds at a time," though she conceded the girl's head could have gone under if a wave came in.

The girl gave deputies a markedly different account. She said she had entered the water to retrieve her phone after her mother threw it in. According to court documents reviewed by Law & Crime, the girl said Laws struck her first, prompting the girl to pull her mother's hair. As the fight escalated, Laws allegedly attempted to put her in a headlock and flipped her, causing her neck to strike the dock. Laws then allegedly pushed the girl fully into the water and held her head submerged.

The teenager told police she could not breathe, and that she believed she would have drowned had bystanders not intervened.

Witnesses corroborate the daughter's account

Witnesses who called 911 told deputies they initially thought the mother and daughter were play-fighting. That impression changed when they saw Laws drag the girl into the water by the hair until her head was, in their words, "fully submerged." The witnesses, who lived nearby, ran over and physically pulled Laws off the girl.

During the struggle, they told police they heard Laws shout at her daughter: "I gave you life, I can f—ing end your life."

A friend of the girl who had traveled with the family told deputies she had to "physically pry" Laws' hands from the girl's hair while the witnesses were pulling Laws away.

Girl found non-responsive; Laws later charged

After being pulled from the water, the girl lay non-responsive with her eyes closed for a brief period. She was transported to a hospital for treatment. Laws was subsequently charged with attempted second-degree murder and three counts of domestic assault, one of which constitutes a felony.

Court documents indicate Laws was ordered to return to Minnesota for a court appearance scheduled for August 26. She was no longer listed on the Otter Tail County Jail roster as of Wednesday.

Source: Law & Crime