A Miami judge just let a woman walk free after she drowned her 15-month-old daughter in a bathtub.
Now Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is demanding that the judge get impeached – and he's not alone.
But Judge de la O made a second decision – and that one may be the most dangerous ruling in American legal history.
The COVID Defense That Set a Baby Killer Free
Precious Bland drowned her infant daughter Emmy in a bathtub in August 2021.
She held the baby underwater until the child stopped breathing.
Police arrived to find the baby face-down and unresponsive in water described as bloody.
https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/2070218321387991101?s=20
Bland's husband was outside with multiple stab wounds.
Her teenage daughter had also been stabbed – because Bland ordered the girl to hand her a knife.
Bland was screaming that Jesus Christ was coming and COVID was going to kill everyone.
She believed the family needed to be baptized in the bathtub.
Her defense attorneys argued she was experiencing a COVID-19-induced psychotic break and didn't understand what she was doing.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Miguel de la O – in a bench trial, meaning no jury, just his own judgment – agreed.
He found Bland not guilty on all three counts: aggravated manslaughter and two counts of attempted murder in the first degree.
Then he let her go home.
Not to a psychiatric institution.
Home.
The One Thing That Makes This Case Different From Every Other
Bland's attorneys openly admitted this was the first case in the country where COVID psychosis went to trial as a murder defense.
And it worked.
Prosecutors fought hard against it.
They told the court that Bland was narrating what she was doing while she did it – announcing the baby needed to stop breathing as she held the child underwater.
https://twitter.com/CrimeTalkNet/status/2070264492332646905?s=20
The state's attorney called the COVID voices story fabricated and embellished.
Judge de la O rejected every word of it.
He said the prosecution's theory didn't make sense to him – and acquitted Precious Bland of murdering her daughter.
A baby is dead.
Her killer is home.
And every criminal defense attorney in America just bookmarked this verdict.
Uthmeier Isn't Letting This Go
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier went straight to X after the verdict.
"This was a bench trial," he wrote. "It's time to impeach this judge."
When de la O then ruled Bland wouldn't be institutionalized – sending her back home instead of to a psychiatric facility – Uthmeier posted again: "Today, Judge Miguel de la O decided that the woman who drowned her 1-year-old daughter will not be institutionalized. Impeach and remove Judge de la O from the bench!"
Uthmeier told Fox News Digital the decision was "unacceptable."
"In a bench trial – where the judge made the decision, not a jury – he allowed a woman off on an insanity defense after she drowned her baby," Uthmeier said. "He cited insanity related to COVID."
https://twitter.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/2077553707789471826?s=20
He also made clear this isn't the only judge on his radar.
Florida legislators are already reaching out, eager to work with his office – not just on de la O, but on other judges who've put dangerous people back on the street.
He pointed to a Tallahassee judge who freed a convicted child predator – a man a jury found guilty of a sex offense – who then murdered his 5-year-old stepdaughter.
He pointed to a Miami judge who released a defendant on bail after an attempted murder, and that defendant later killed three tourists.
There's a pattern here.
And Uthmeier is the first Florida Attorney General in modern history willing to name it out loud and act on it.
What Impeachment Actually Takes – and Why It Hasn't Happened in 60 Years
Under the Florida Constitution, impeaching a state judge requires a two-thirds vote in the House of Representatives.
Removal requires conviction by two-thirds of the Florida Senate.
No Florida judge has faced impeachment proceedings in roughly six decades – not because the bench has been flawless, but because no one was willing to use the constitutional tools that exist for exactly this.
Andrea Yates drowned five children in a bathtub in Texas in 2001.
https://twitter.com/ACTBrigitte/status/2070197979726717261?s=20
She was ultimately found not guilty by reason of insanity – but she was sent to a state psychiatric facility, where she stayed.
That's how the insanity defense is supposed to work: not guilty by reason of insanity means treatment and confinement, not a ride home.
De la O gave Bland the most lenient outcome available under the most novel murder defense in American legal history.
If Florida's legislature doesn't act, every defense attorney in America just learned that COVID is a get-out-of-murder-free card.
And the next baby who dies because a judge decided a killer didn't need to be locked up – that's on them too.
Sources:
- James Uthmeier, X posts, June 25 and July 2026.
- "Florida AG Seeks Judge's Impeachment After Baby Drowning COVID Insanity Acquittal," Fox News, July 2026.
- "Florida AG Calls for Impeachment After Judge Acquits Mother Who Killed Baby and Blamed COVID," The Blaze, June 2026.
- "Florida Shows How States Can Restrain Rogue Judges Who Let Criminals Go," The Federalist, July 6, 2026.
- "Florida Attorney General Calls to Impeach Judge Who Acquitted Murderous Mother," Western Journal, July 2026.
