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Mother Accused Of Leaving Kids To Die To Get Psych Exam

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A judge has ordered a mental health examination for a woman accused of leaving her 2- and 4-year-old daughters to die in a remote area of northwestern North Dakota.

The defense for Michelle Wounded Face requested the exam, and federal prosecutors didn’t object.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland says there’s reasonable cause to believe Wounded Face is “suffering from a mental disease or deficit.” She’ll spend up to a month being examined in a federal facility, likely in Rochester, Minnesota.

The 24-year-old Wounded Face is a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. She’s been living on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. She’s accused of abandoning her daughters in a car for more than three hours on Jan. 3, in bitter cold weather. They survived.