Baltimore prosecutors said yesterday that they would seek a sentence of life in prison without parole for Rene Elizabeth Aulton, the woman charged with murdering her two young daughters by setting fire to the family's Canton rowhouse.
Ms. Aulton said nothing and displayed no emotion during a five-minute arraignment hearing before Baltimore Circuit Judge Mabel H. Hubbard.
Her lawyer, assistant public defender Michael N. Gambrill, entered pleas of not guilty on her behalf to two charges of first-degree murder and an arson charge. Her trial was set for May 16 before Chief Judge Robert I. H. Hammerman.
Ms. Aulton, who wore a pink shirt, a blue-gray jacket and green trousers, glanced only briefly toward family members seated in the second row of the spectators' gallery. The defendant's mother, Sharon Aulton, said it was the first time she had seen her 26-year-old daughter since the two young girls' funeral in November.
"It devastated me," Ms. Aulton said. "Your child is brought out in shackles and told it's life without parole."
Rene Aulton told police that she set the Nov. 15 fire in her house in the 2300 block of Fleet Street to kill daughters Christina Marie Lambert, 4, and Natalie Michelle Aulton, 2, according to charging documents filed in court.
Her oldest child, a boy born in 1988, was in the custody of her mother at the time of the fire. Sharon Aulton complained that neither Mr. Gambrill nor prosecutors had told her much about the case.
Ms. Aulton continues to wonder whether her daughter's former boyfriend played a role in the slayings. Police sources said at the time of Rene Aulton's arrest that she set the fire in an apparent effort to maintain her relationship with her boyfriend. Police said Rene Aulton told investigators that she believed her boyfriend disliked her 2-year-old daughter, who was of mixed race.
Homicide detective Albert Marcus said yesterday that the boyfriend is not a suspect. He said police verified his claims that he was at the fire scene to try to rescue the children.
Rene Aulton could have faced the death penalty under Maryland law because the fire was intentionally set and two people died. State's Attorney Stuart O. Simms said the nature of the allegations justified a "significant sanction," but said a review of death penalty law showed that "aggravating circumstances" might not exceed "mitigating circumstances" -- a requirement for a death sentence to be imposed.
Mr. Simms declined to elaborate on those factors. State law says a diminished capacity to "appreciate the criminality" of the act is a mitigating factor. Sharon Aulton has said her daughter had a learning disability and an IQ of 83.