Malar Balasubramanian is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 pediatrician who pleaded guilty on January 30, 2006 to a charge of involuntary manslaughter

Manslaughter

Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...

 and was sentenced to ten years in prison

Prison

A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

.

Education and career

Malar Balasubramanian graduated from the Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...

 School of Medicine in Cleveland

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

 in 2001 and completed a pediatric residency program at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh in June, 2004. She practiced medicine in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 for a time before returning to her home in the Blue Ash

Blue Ash, Ohio

Blue Ash is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and an inner suburb of Cincinnati, which is located just to the south. The population was 12,513 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Blue Ash is located at ....

 suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

 two or three weeks prior to her mother's homicide. She was planning to move to St. Louis to begin a fellowship in pediatric cardiology.

Initial Story of Homicide

There was an email signed by their sister, Malar. Parts of this email read, "Once I realized that I won't succeed the way I wanted to in life and decided to end it, I realized that I couldn't leave you two alone with Amma," and "I'm sorry for what I did to Amma, I am, but I'm glad she's not here to hurt us anymore."

Police found Malar on McKinley Road in the Blue Ash suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio on the Wednesday evening of July 27, 2005 near the Ohio Air National Guard base. According to Anne Flanagan, Assistant Hamilton County, Ohio prosecutor, Malar was found wearing a T-shirt and underwear. Malar had taken off her pants because they had gotten wet in a sprinkler. According to a search warrant, when Detective Jason Lobenthal asked her where her mother was, Malar replied, "I choked her," and said she was "in the car." Police found her mother, Saroja, in the back of a black 1998 Oldsmobile Intrigue sedan parked in a lot at 4460 Lake Forest Drive, Blue Ash, Ohio. She was lying under a blanket and her head was on a pillow that had blood on it, police reported.

According to the search warrant, Malar later told police that on Sunday evening, July 17, 2005, she crushed about 35 Xanax tablets in a mixing bowl. On Monday, July 18, 2005, she put them in a milkshake her mother drank. Xanax is commonly prescribed as a treatment for anxiety disorders. When the drugs did not kill her, Malar attempted to suffocate her mother in the guest bedroom, then strangled her with her hands. She told police she put the body into the Oldsmobile by using bags of mulch to build a ramp in the garage. Then she drove it to the location where police found it.

She told police she wanted to kill herself, but did not want to leave her mother behind to harm her brother and sister. She also told police she left a six-page letter in the car that explained why she killed her mother.

She was indicted Friday, July 29, 2005 on one count of aggravated murder.

First Court Appearance

Malar Balasubramanian was arraigned on charges of aggravated murder before Hamilton County, Ohio Judge Dennis Helmick on August 8, 2005. She did not enter a plea, so Judge Helmick entered a "Not Guilty" plea for her. She was jailed without bond.

Plea Change

On Friday, September 16, 2005, Malar Balasubramanian changed her plea to "not guilty by reason of insanity". Lawyers representing Dr. Balasubramanian said the new plea was supported by evidence that suggested the then 28-year-old doctor was distraught, injured and under the influence of drugs The evidence included an e-mail police believed Dr. Balasubramanian transmitted to her brother and sister near the time of their mother's death. In the message, she tells her siblings she did not want to leave them alone with their mother and that she was "very sorry to have done this to you." She also wrote that she had considered hurting herself many times and had finally decided she could not go on because she was a "second-rate" friend, sibling and doctor.

Final Plea Change and Sentencing

On Monday, January 30, 2006, Dr. Malar Balasubramanian changed her plea to guilty of a reduced charge of "involuntary manslaughter". She was sentenced to 10 years in jail by Judge Dennis Helmick.