last may, romechia simms put her son ji'aire lee in a swing and kept him there pushing him through two nights and a cold rainy day. at some point the child died. the lawyer revealing that simms heard voices that made her do it. the judge agreed she was mentally ill and not responsible for killing her son. agrees. >> as the court indicated she was found to be not dangerous as long as she is taking medicine. >> but he is not happy because it means that simms is free. and will serve no time. >> ji'aire should be alive today. >> simms mother said it's not up to covington. >> three experts determined her not criminally responsible. this is a professional decision. >> in court and a bereave hallway conversation with abc7 romechia simms seems clear and articulate, explaining she sought help for psychotic episodes but at the time of ji'aire's death she had gone off her medication. now she and her mother said treatment isgoing. >> this unfortunate. >> a judge order for instructions for romechia simms. she must continue to get the mental health treatment. bottom line today the charges involving

last may, romechia simms put her son ji'aire lee in a swing and kept him there pushing him through two nights and a cold rainy day. at some point the child died. the lawyer revealing that simms heard voices that made her do it. the judge agreed she was mentally ill and not responsible for killing her son.

that is what a judge ruled for romechia simms. she pushed the little boy for 40 hours straight and he died from dehydration. >> the mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia. >> it won't go away. it has given the state of maryland for people suffering with mental illnesses. >> it is a wake-up call to all folks that have mental illness. there is no post mental need to take care of this illness because tragedies can happen. >> simms can stay out of jail as long as she continues the county treatment plan. >> we have a story out of prince george for an app called offer up. u things that you want to sell secondhand. two men used the app to commit armed robbery. tyrone strictlan, jr. and andre speller are accused of uploading fake posts claiming that they were selling various items. once they met with potential buyers, they pulled out guns and robbed the victims. >>> it is going to and messy couple of days. enough rain for yellow weather alerts. tracking how that rain could impact the commute. >>> but better than snow. yes. we are looking

defense attorney said romechia simms suffered from an episode of schizophrenia as she pushed her 3-year-old, ji'aire lee, in a bucket swing for 40 hours at a playground in la plata. the child died of hypothermia and dehydration. she will receive supervised mental health treatment and no time in prison or a mental health institution. >>> now, a montgomery county mom was charged with the disappearance of her two children. a judge ruled that catherine hoggle is not competent for experts will now evaluate her for a six time. she is due in court in april and her two children went missing from their gaithersburg home in september 2014. >>> muriel bowser is in cuba this week leading a delegation that includes montgomery county executive and other officials from maryland and virginia. the delegation is exploring economic educational and cultural ties with cuba. today, bowser met with cuba's foreign minister of trade and foreign investments. the mayor of savannah was there and officials of the university of havana. >>> it will be a wet next couple of days in dc. >>> our chief meteorologist has more

detectives say romechia simms was suffering from an episode of schizophrenia last may as she pushed her 3-year-old, ji'aire lee, in a swing for 40 hours at a playground in la plata. the child died of hypothermia and dehydration. under a plea agreement, simms will receive supervised mental health treatment, no time in prison or a mental health institution. >>> in fairfax county we just got off the phone with police report no arrests in a rape in the mount vernon area. that rape -- rapist broke into the home of the 35-year-old to saturday on the mallard apartments near route 1. he threatened her, assaulted her, and took off. the victim was able to give police investigators have been distributing this sketch in the neighborhood, hoping to turn up new leads. >>> and, this in fairfax county, two boys at glasgow middle school have been charged with sexual battery on a female classmate. police say the assault took place last november on a school bus parked outside of the school. these boys are 11 and 12 years old. police say bus surveillance video shows the boy scrubbing the girl several times

today his mother, romechia simms entered an alford plea to involuntary manslaughter. what it means is she did not admit guilt but did acknowledge there was enough evidence to convict her. the toddler died of dehydration and hypothermia after simms left him in that swing for two days. simms suffers from schizophrenia. as part of her sentence she has to take her medication and continue seeing a psychiatrist. >>> nearly half of the birds rescued during an oil spill on the potomac river are back in the wild tonight. 21 geese were released along the river in alexandria this afternoon. they hopped out of cardboard bocks and looked around curiously. others waddled away from the water and started hun food in the grass. we're told they're all healthy and ready to return to the area. more than 50 birds were saved after oil leaked into the river near reagan national airport last month. tristate bird rescue and research cleaned and rehabilitated those birds. dominion virginia power admitted the spill came from its crystal city substation. the u.s. coast guard says it has been con

romechia simms entered an alford plea. the defense says simms has schizophrenia and a judge found her not criminally responsible. simms will be required to seek mental health treatment, including seeing a psychiatrist and taking medication. >>> now to the race for the white house tonight where we've learned and seen one candidate drop out and another campaign shuffle after a weekend with wins for donald trump and hiar turnaround. chris lawrence is in our newsroom to break it all down. chris? >> late this afternoon ted cruz asked his national spokesman rick tiler to resign because of a false tweet about marco rubio. now, this comes right on the eve of the nevada caucus and just three days after we saw donald trump win a decisive victory in south carolina and jeb bush suspend his campaign. looking at saturday's results, trump swept south carolina's delegates winning in every congressional district and all 50 of that state's delegates. marco rubio came in second with cruz right behind him. bush was a distant fourth. on the de