Perkiomen Woman To Claim Mental Infirmity In Mother's Slaying

PERKIOMEN TOWNSHIP, PA — A Perkiomen Township woman who is facing murder charges in the slaying of her mother last summer is planning a mental infirmity defense, according to a court documents.

Lawyers for Elena House-Hay, 22, filed a notice regarding their defense plan in Montgomery County Court on Dec. 5, court records show. Claims of mental infirmity could limit the severity of the jail sentence which House-Hay faces.

House-Hay is accused of stabbing her mother, 54-year-old Annette E. House, to death inside their Abby Lane home on July 21. Charges of first and third degree murder, along with voluntary manslaughter and related counts, have been filed.

James Freeman, House-Hay's attorney, had previously filed a motion to request the services of psychiatrists or psychologists back in late September.

In October, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said that it would not seek the death penalty as the case did not have the“aggravating” factors necessary to do so.

Authorities arrived on the scene of the House home at around 3:18 a.m. on the Friday morning of the killing. House-Hay had blood on her clothing and a bloody bandage on her hand when police arrived, according to the criminal complaint.

Annette House was found unresponsive on the second-floor bedroom with a wooden-handled kitchen knife in her chest, authorities said.

House-Hay told police at first that she awoke to her mother screaming and saw a person wearing a gray sweatshirt leave the house. She later said she had taken the knife from the kitchen before entering her mother's bedroom, and that she attempted to break the front door's window with a flashlight, presumably to make it seem as though there had been forced entry, according to police.

According to the criminal complaint, House-Hay sent a Facebook message on July 20 saying "Haha, I hate my family."

Bail was denied after House-Hay's arrest and she is being held in Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

Her jury trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 29. Assistant District Attorney Benjamin D. McKenna will lead the prosecution.

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