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Mother Denies Trying To Kill Herself, Kids

WILKES-BARRE TOWNSHIP — Newswatch 16 is hearing a different account about what happened when police say a mother from Luzerne County tried to kill herself...
melissa scholl

WILKES-BARRE TOWNSHIP -- Newswatch 16 is hearing a different account about what happened when police say a mother from Luzerne County tried to kill herself and her two kids in her car.

Melissa Scholl appeared in court Thursday for a preliminary hearing. She is accused of trying to kill herself and her own kids back in December by locking them in her car and connecting a hose from the exhaust to the window of the back seat. It happened at a school bus parking lot in Wilkes-Barre Township.

The children were checked out at a hospital and found to be OK.

On her way into her hearing Thursday, Scholl said the engine was not even running at the time the incident happened.

During Thursday's hearing, Scholl's defense attorney Larry Kansky argued the two counts of attempted homicide involving her two children should be dismissed. He compared the situation to having a gun with no bullets.

"There was no evidence of any carbon monoxide. There was no evidence that the car was running, and there was no evidence that my client intended to harm her children," said Kansky.

But prosecutors point to text messages that appear to have been sent by Scholl to her mother-in-law earlier that day.

"I'm not sure what more this mother could have done to put her children in harm's way, or how much more severe it had to be for the defense to agree with us. But I understand no matter what, they're going to say it wasn't enough," said Luzerne County Assistant District Attorney Angela Sperrazza.

The magistrate agreed there was enough evidence to send the case to higher court.

Scholl remains behind bars at a $500,000 bail. Her children are in the custody of Luzerne County Children and Youth.

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