CANTON, Ga. (Court TV) — A Tennessee woman is standing trial in Georgia for the stabbing death of her 13-month-old daughter.
Chloe Driver, accused in the death of her 13-month-old daughter, appears in court Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Court TV)
Chloe Driver, 24, is facing multiple charges, including malice murder, in the Dec. 2020 death of her daughter, Hannah. While responding to a 911 call, police discovered Chloe and Hannah in a bedroom, both suffering from stab wounds, reported the Cherokee Tribune & Ledger-News. An indictment accuses Chloe of stabbing Hannah in the neck multiple times with a knife.
Chloe has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, stating in court documents, “the defendant was in the midst of a psychotic episode that included paranoia, delusional beliefs, hallucinations and disordered thinking.” According to her defense, Chloe was “living a nomadic lifestyle.” The defense said several witnesses could account for her “mental health issues and subsequent deterioration” in the weeks leading up to Hannah’s death.
In opening statements, prosecutors said Driver was one of three women married to Benyamin Ben-Michaeil (AKA Brian Joyce), who lived a nomadic and religious, polygamist lifestyle. Driver’s defense said those beliefs, coupled with mental illness, led Driver to psychosis that resulted in the death of her daughter.
Chloe is standing trial on charges of murder, cruelty to children in the first degree, aggravated battery and aggravated assault.
If you or someone you know is in a mental health emergency, text HOME to 741741 to contact the National Crisis Text Line. If you or someone you know is having a maternal mental health crisis, know you are not alone, and you can get help by visiting Postpartum Support International.
DAILY TRIAL HIGHLIGHTS
Day 2 – 11/13/24
- A pediatric forensic pathologist told jurors that Hannah Nicole Driver succumbed to her injuries within minutes of being stabbed by her mother, Chloe Alexis Driver. Hannah suffered four stab wounds, three to her neck and one to her upper back.
- Jurors heard testimony from Jason Spillars, someone who knows and traveled with Chloe Driver. He described Driver as a sweet and loving mother but would transition into “delusional and psychotic” episodes and struggled with mental illness often.
- Chloe Driver was in the hospital ten days following the incident before she told medical professionals she suffered from delusions. Before then, Driver asked questions about “How long will she serve in prison?” and refused to go to physical therapy to learn how to walk again because “she will be sitting in a jail cell.”
- WATCH: Day 2 Livestream
Day 1 – 11/12/24
- Katie Gropper, Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney delivers the State’s opening statements.
- Gropper said that “[Chloe Driver] is not a weak-minded person….and does not meet the standard of criminal insanity.”
- Prosecutors told jurors that Chloe Driver was not mentally ill when she decided to murder her 13-month-old daughter, Hannah Nicole Driver.
- Defense attorney Angela Trethaway delivers the opening statements on behalf of Chloe Driver.
- Driver’s defense attorney say that she was indoctrinated in a polygamist ideology by her 38-year-old boyfriend, Brian Joyce who also goes by the name Benyamin Ben-Michael, and suffered years of abuse.
- Driver took a paring knife from a butcher block in the kitchen of the home, grabbed her daughter, locked themselves in an upstairs bedroom where she committed the heinous act of murdering her daughter.
- Chloe Driver has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity during the time of the incident.
- WATCH: Day 1 Livestream
