[radar]It wasn't an "unborn baby" until the umbilical cord was cut. It was a parasite.[/radar]

What do you mean 'how often it happens'? I have NEVER heard of this happening before.

I also don't think we should blame someone for being mentally ill however I think the problem lies where every person that want to avoid the death penalty uses this strategy. It is also not a black and white issue (mental illness). One Dr. may say you are mentally ill while the other may say you are not. With a physical illness such as dysentary it is black and white both Dr.s will agree and treat the same way.

This crime is sickening. Unthinkable. Horrific. Who would think to do such a thing? :eek:

they murdered someone. i'm not really supportive of the idea to let them out once they aren't as nuts as they once were. we're not talking about someone who crapped on the sidewalk, but someone who cut a fetus from her mother because she was destraught over losing her own. *buzz* thanks for playing but you are free to leave the earth now.

is she mentally ill. probably. i think she'd damn near have to be to pull this one off. but that is irrelevant. someone lost a wife and a mother, because she wasn't feeling right in the head - fry her.

can you really imagine putting her into a treatment program and in 3 or 4 years she wakes up and says "wow, i feel a lot better now. i don't think i'll cut any more babies out. can i go home now?"

I have to say I agree with Lookout on this. Whether this illness is treatable or not, the rule (law) of society is: you don't kill people unless it's self defense (and even then it's questionable).

If she isn't mentally healthy enough to understand that, take her out of society permanently. And don't get into the mentality of children with me, this was an adult woman with the power to kill another adult, not a 5 year old.

And here is the accused...

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com...ain_wxs102.jpg

Me either. :(

I don't see any horns growing out of her head or anything. Looks sane enough to me...fry her!

Personally I don't thing the insanity defense should be used like diplomatic immunity. And just because this crime sounds particularly heinous does not automatically make the woman insane. Have any of the news reports said she has a history of mental illness yet? I'm with Lookout on this one too, she should be removed from society...permanently.

And here's the victim...

My spider sense says ... drunk.

And probably personality disordered (which is a psychiatric way of saying "royally fucked up, but not crazy-crazy").

There will be a host of people making claims one direction or another about her.

The only ones that will ultimately be important will be those of the (inevitable) defense psychiatrist, and the prosecution psychiatrist.

There are a couple of docs who just go around the country doing competency evals, and offering expert testimony. Some of them are known as being "The best psychiatric testimony that money can buy."

A lot of these forensic shrinks do do a good, ethical job ... they write accurate reports.

A lot of what we currently know shows willful action, preplanning, significant attempts to cover up evidence of the crime ... most of the elements that go into a death penalty eligible case.

I wonder if courttv will carry this one?

I remember when I first read about this story it mentioned how many crimes of this nature occur (several hundred IIRC), and that many more go unreported. I didn't write the number down, but I have found a statistic of 1,000 pregnant women murdered in the past decade, but not all for the purpose of stealing their unborn child (source: Washington Post).

As for this woman...her plan was obviously pre-meditated. From scoping out websites and finding a picture of the victim pregnant, then writing the victim under an assumed name pretending to be interested in buying a puppy, arranging a meeting to go out to look at one, etc. This was no 'heat of the moment' crime...she thought this one out step by step. That is so cold blooded and heartless.

And then to come back and to say that 'ooops, I guess I wasn't having twins after all!' (I believe I read somewhere that there were ppl that doubted she was even pregnant to begin with--has it be positively stated that she did in fact miscarry, or is that something that she alone is saying?)

Let's not forget that being crazy won't get you off. You have to either be:

a) incompetent to stand trial, or

b) unable to tell right from wrong.

Edit: And for the record, extra crispy.

huh huh huh huh. wolf said do do. *shut up beavis!*

Just hear on the news...'her exhusband says she often faked pregnancy to get attention'......COOKOO :eek:

Christ, and if she did ever manage to have a kid of her own, I bet she'd have a raging case of Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy. :yeldead:

No. I just think she'd kill her kid outright when it didn't love her enough.

Munchausen's by Proxy takes far to much planning.

Trust me, I don't think many ppl noticed that faux pas. They were probably too horrified by the actual story to even care.