Daytona Beach, FL – The Van-In-Ocean mom could be getting out of a mental hospital by the end of the summer.
A hearing for Ebony Wilkerson has been scheduled for August 31st, according to an email sent Thursday afternoon to WNDB News by Ludmilla Lelis, a spokeswoman for Florida’s 7th Circuit Court.
That hearing – scheduled for 2pm that day – is meant to evaluate Wilkerson’s current status, per Lelis.
Wilkerson was committed against her will just before last Christmas by 7th Circuit Judge Leah Case, who called the 34-year-old woman “mentally ill” and a “danger” to herself and others.
Case ruled at the time that hospital officials must give her a progress report on Wilkerson’s mental health within 6 months.
Prior to that, the South Carolina woman had been out on the street for some time after posting bond on 3 counts of child abuse stemming from that March 2014 incident at Silver Beach.
Wilkerson was initially charged with 3 counts of attempted murder in that incident by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office after it made national headlines, but the attempted murder charges were dropped after she agreed to enter an insanity plea in a deal with 7th Circuit State Attorney RJ Larizza’s office.
During the disposition hearing afterwards, Wilkerson admitted on the stand that she saw “angels” and “demons” while driving on the beach and that’s what led her to drive her Honda Odyssey into the water after first locking herself and her 3 kids inside.
Wilkerson’s legal team – overseen by 7th Circuit Public Defender Jim Purdy – claimed Wilkerson’s pregnancy at the time combined with the stress of leaving her abusive husband and low blood sugar caused her to drive into the ocean.
After giving birth while in state custody at Halifax Health Medical Center, Wilkerson’s legal team fought to keep her on the street while getting outpatient treatment from a doctor, but prosecutors argued that she needed to go to a hospital since there was such a wide variety of expert opinion as to what kind of mental disease Wilkerson has.
Purdy told WNDB’s Marc Bernier prior to her involuntary commitment that the eventual goal is to have Wilkerson reunited with her kids, a goal also endorsed by Larizza’s office following the judge’s decision to commit her.
Ebony Wilkerson (mugshot courtesy Volusia County Jail)
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