Tiffanie Lucas, 32, entered a guilty plea to the murder of her sons Maurice Baker Jr, 6, and his half-brother Jayden Howard, 9, who were shot in their home last November

Lucas of Shepherdsville, Kentucky, mom admitted no one else had been home that day, but claimed she’d been manipulated and was given the gun

Due back in court to with a defense with the plan of sticking her previous not guilty plea – by reason of insanity, with the trial to begin in December, Lucas then changed her plea

Sentencing is scheduled for November 22, Judge Rodney Burress has said each charge carries a sentence of 20-50 years or life in prison

The father’s side of the family who believe drug abuse played a role in the boy’s deaths, are demanding capital punishment for Lucas 

Kentucky mom Tiffanie Lucas, [photo], 32, has now pled guilty to two counts of murder in the death of her two young sons and is due for sentencing in November. Judge Rodney Burress has said each charge carries a sentence of 20-50 years or life in prison

A Kentucky woman Wednesday finally pled guilty to the murder of her two young sons after discarding her previous insanity defense.  
Tiffanie Lucas, 32, was charged with two counts of capital murder, after shooting her boys inside their Shepherdsville home in November 2023. She entered a guilty plea to the murder of her sons Maurice Baker Jr, 6, and his half-brother Jayden Howard, 9.
Lucas entered the plea at Bullitt County Court after previously pleading not guilty, and later planning to use an insanity defense. 
The stepmother to one of the two boys has said the family will accept nothing less than the death penalty.  

Lucas, was charged with two counts of murder for the shooting of her two children Jayden Howard, 9, and his half-brother Maurice Baker Jr, 6 [photo]

Due back in court to with a defense with the plan of sticking her previous not guilty plea – by reason of insanity – she was scheduled to stand trial in December before changing her plea.
Her neighbor reportedly, had pulled into his driveway when he saw Lucas walking down the stairs of his porch and had told him that her ‘kids were dying’ before collapsing. 
The boys were discovered inside the home with gun wounds, and a gun left on the bed, after four shots were heard from a neighbors Ring camera footage. 
Lucas who admitted no one else had been home that day, claimed had said she was given the gun. In her police interview the mother said she was ‘in such a bad spot’ and claimed the shooting was an accident. 

A neighbor had pulled into his driveway when he saw Lucas walking down the stairs of his porch. She told him that her ‘kids were dying’ before collapsing. Initially she claimed the shooting was an accident and that she was manipulated into killing her boys.

‘I’m so stupid,’ she added. ‘I would never do anything like this unless someone manipulated me.’ 
Bullitt County detective Richard Beahl testified that Lucas ‘made statements that she was being manipulated through Facebook, through the internet or through Wi-Fi… into doing what she did.’ 
The boys were taken to a hospital in Louisville, and ultimately died from their wounds. 
‘We wanted them. We would have taken them with open arms. We loved them so much,’ said Jayden’s brother Durrell Howard. 

Michelle Rice stepmother to 9-year-old Maurice who believes drug abuse may have played a role in the Lucas [right] shooting her sons [left] in cold blood, said posts with Lucas smiling in photos are nothing but an act

Capital punishment is legal in the state of Kentucky, but rarely used.
Michelle Rice who was a stepmother to Maurice says Lucas should be put to death. 
‘If it goes to trial it’s going to be a long process unless she somehow takes a deal for life in prison, but we want the death penalty. That’s what we want.
‘She deserves to die,’ a tearful Rice told Law & Crime during a lengthy interview. 
‘They were sweet little boys and they didn’t deserve it. She deserves the death penalty for this because there’s no reason behind them not being able to be here and celebrate Christmas today with us and to go to school and live their life now.’ 

In 2022, Lucas extolling the children would murder a year later, wrote: ‘I will always use any excuse to celebrate them and show them how special they are’

On Facebook, Lucas would often post heavily edited photos of herself and her two boys.
‘I love my babies everyday of the year, I will always use any excuse to celebrate them and show them how special they are,’ she wrote on Valentine’s Day 2022.
In another post, she proclaimed: ‘I love my kings different and that’s why Jayden & Peanut are different types of children. They are GOD SENT & every wrong I have ever done or any hurt I have ever caused I am so focused on correcting and loving them longer and deeper.’
She continued: ‘I can not guarantee a lot of things in life BUT I can guarantee the mother I will always be, the love I will always share, and the best I can ever give and do will be PROMISED to you my love, Jayden & Peanut!’
But Rice said that the smiling pictures were nothing more than an act designed to fool others that she was ‘normal’.
‘A lot of people see the social media side of her but it’s not really how she was off camera. In her personal relationships you would see her the crazy side of her,’ Rice explained.
‘She did things because she wanted people to see her as a certain way but that’s not really how she was. That’s just how she wanted to be seen on social media.
‘Nobody knew of her drug issues. She never had a job. She never worked. Things like that. The boys were taken from her previously when they were smaller because of drugs.’

‘Nobody can manipulate you to do such a horrific thing.’ Maurice Baker’s stepmom Michelle Rice, [photo], says the posts with Lucas smiling in pictures is just an act. Rice believes drug abuse played a role in the boy’s deaths and is demanding capital punishment

Rice believes drug abuse played a role in the boy’s deaths and that she is likely fully aware of what she is alleged to have done.
‘Nobody can manipulate you to do such a horrific thing,’ Rice said. ‘She was competent. She was very aware of what she did. She knows what she did.
‘She allegedly said this was an accident and that someone gave her a gun – that she was in a bad spot and that she was manipulated. These are simply excuses and just something to say cuz to me there’s no accident. You can’t accidentally do that to two of your baby boys.
‘She was competent she knew exactly what she did and I believe that’s what she wanted.’ 
Sentencing is scheduled for November 22. Judge Rodney Burress has said each charge carries a sentence of 20 to 50 years, or a life sentence.