Ohio mom's confession details how she smothered 3 young sons

BELLEFONTAINE, Ohio -- An Ohio woman accused of suffocating her three young sons over a 13-month period said in a recorded police interview she smothered each boy with a blanket because she didn't want to see them suffering.

Brittany Pilkington also said she was depressed and worried her sons eventually would become abusive toward women, The Columbus Dispatch reported Wednesday.

"I wish I would have did it to myself instead," Pilkington can be heard saying to police on the recording.

A Logan County judge has been reviewing Pilkington's statements while considering a request to exclude her confession in the potential death-penalty case. Her lawyers argue it was obtained unconstitutionally.

Defense attorney Marc Triplett said police were aware of Pilkington's lack of mental acuity, and she didn't understand when she signed a form waiving her Miranda rights.

Prosecutors said the 24-year-old Bellefontaine woman knowingly agreed to be interviewed without a lawyer, and she was advised of her rights by officers at the police station and then again at the sheriff's office.

Pilkington's tested IQ is 94, according to court records.

Logan County children services' records state Pilkington functioned on the level of an 11- or 12-year-old at age 18. She's reportedly a high-school graduate.

Authorities allege Pilkington killed the toddler and two infants out of jealousy at the attention her husband gave them.

Pilkington told officers she let her husband find the bodies when he returned home from his second-shift job because she was too scared to tell him what she'd done.

She has pleaded not guilty to three counts of aggravated murder.