Judge: Mother not criminally responsible for death of son she pushed in swing for 44 hours

LA PLATA, Maryland -- Romechia Simms was found pushing her three-year-old son's lifeless body in a swing. Nearly a year later, a judge declared the Maryland mother not criminally responsible for the boy's death.

In May of 2015, Simms put her three-year-old son Ji'Aire in a swing, and kept him there for 44 hours. She pushed him through two nights and a cold, rainy day.

At some point, the child died.

Simms' lawyer has revealed Simms heard voices, and a judge agreed Simms was, at the time, so mentally ill, she wasn't responsible for killing her own son.

Tony Covington, the Maryland State's Attorney reluctantly agreed.

"As the court indicated, she was found to be not dangerous as long as she's taking her medicine," Covington said.

Covington said he wasn't happy with the ruling because it meant Simms would serve no jail time.

"Ji'Aire Lee should be alive today," Covington said.

"Not only one doctor -- but you have three experts who have determined her to be not criminally responsible. This is not some decision we made. It's a professional decision," Vontasha Simms, Romechia Simms' mother said.

In court, and during a brief conversation in the hallway with a reporter, Romechia Simms seemed clear and articulate. She explained to the judge that she had sought help for psychotic episodes, but at the time of Ji'Aire's death, she had gone off her medications.

Now, she and her mother say treatment is ongoing.

"This is not something that's ever gonna go away, you know? It's unfortunate," Vontasha Simms said.

Officials with the Office of the Medical Examiner in Baltimore said Ji'Aire died from dehydration and hypothermia.