Paragraph eight reads: "At the trial, Woo's therapist testified that she suffered from depression and had talked repeatedly about committing suicide after stopping her medication."

SSRI Stories note: Withdrawal can often be more dangerous than continuing on a medication. Withdrawal must be done slowly, over a period of a year or more, under the supervision of a qualified specialist.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/25/BA7L1AQAUU.DTL&tsp=1

Linda Woo gets 25 to life for killing daughter

Justin Berton, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, November 26, 2009
(11-25) 09:01 PST SAN FRANCISCO --

A San Francisco woman who asphyxiated her 3-year-old daughter during an apparent suicide attempt in their Ingleside Terrace home has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Linda Woo, 43, was sentenced Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court by Judge Cynthia Ming-Mei Lee for first-degree murder. Woo will serve a concurrent term of seven years to life for the attempted murder of her 4-year-old son, who survived the incident.

On March 29, 2006, Woo was found inside a car in her garage with her two unconscious children. The daughter, Olive Murphy, was pronounced dead at the scene, and the boy suffered brain injuries.

According to prosecutors, Woo told the children they were going on a camping trip, led them into the car in the garage and lit a portable barbecue.

Prosecutors said Woo had been trying to get back at a man who broke off an affair with her while she was still married to the children's father.

When Woo didn't bring the children to day care, the school contacted her estranged husband. He called friends, one of whom discovered the mother and children in the garage at 370 Moncada Way and phoned 911.

Woo, who worked as a principal project manager at Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in San Francisco, was treated for carbon monoxide poisoning.

At the trial, Woo's therapist testified that she suffered from depression and had talked repeatedly about committing suicide after stopping her medication.

Woo's attorney argued that Woo grappled with a "major depressive disorder" that was so severe she was not responsible for her acts.

A San Francisco jury convicted her in April and rejected Woo's claims the following month that she had been insane at the time of the incident.

E-mail Justin Berton at jberton@sfchronicle.com.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/25/BA7L1AQAUU.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0Y6uEMyLv