[QUOTE=elucidator]
Absent conflicting evidence, it is my opinion that anyone who would do such a thing is most likely the victim of a full-blown psychotic episode. The victim of such a aberration is not responsible for their actions. Justice simply doesn’t enter into it.
[/QUOTE]
But the law is not was the defendent was insane, but if the defendent knew what they were doing was wrong.
Only if they didn’t know they were doing wrong is insanity a valid defense.
Still we don’t yet know who microwaved the baby. I hope the justice system finds who the culprit was with absolute certainty.
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn]
Innocent until proven guilty and all, but what the hell does the child being with a babysitter the night before have to do with anything? Are they really trying to imply the child was microwaved the night before, and they didn’t notice anything wrong when the got home, and the child died the next day? Are they really implying that this sort of death would not be instantaneous?
[/QUOTE]
My understanding is that there were no outward signs of abuse, but that the burned internal organs were found at autopsy. The child quite possibly didn’t die immediately, and therefore could have been breathing and appear to be asleep.
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn]
IAre they really implying that this sort of death would not be instantaneous?
[/QUOTE]
It very well might not be, in fact. Microwaves aren’t instant invisible death; if they were, military radar operators would be dropping like flies. Microwaves do damage by heating and in this respect aren’t any different from any other type of burn injury. People do survive even serious burns. The main difference is that the microwaves can penetrate some depth into the tissues before being absorbed and turned into heat so that internal damage occurs before skin surface damage. Depending upon the power level and length of exposure, it’s very possible for a child to survive for hours and even days before succumbing to death due to organ failure.
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
this one just might be the most incomprehensively evil thing I’ve ever seen.
[/QUOTE]
In my book, you have to go a LONG way to beat Melissa Drexler for that title. I’m not sure China Arnold has her beat, but she sure gave it a try.
[QUOTE=Cheesesteak]
In my book, you have to go a LONG way to beat Melissa Drexler for that title. I’m not sure China Arnold has her beat, but she sure gave it a try.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t know. This story is comprehensible to me. Not justifiable but comprehensible. I can at least get my head around the idea of abandoning a newborn in an act of desperation. Actually keeping it for a month and then torturing it to death from the inside out…that’s a much darker place than I’m able to travel.
[QUOTE=tdn]
Is it really necessary to turn this thread into a tired old DP debate? Can we instead focus on what a sick fuck that woman is?
[/QUOTE]
That depends on whether you feel it necessary to reply to any more of my comments with unsolicited snark. Other people commented on anti-DP positions, I provided my own perspective to provide context to my point–ie, the woman hasn’t been convicted of anything yet. I note no one else felt it necessary to raise the issue…
[QUOTE=Cheesesteak]
In my book, you have to go a LONG way to beat Melissa Drexler for that title. I’m not sure China Arnold has her beat, but she sure gave it a try.
[/QUOTE]
I tend to measure evil against the standard set by Susan Smith. These are the kinds of stories that make me think there is no god.
[QUOTE=DooWahDiddy]
I don’t want to speak for ElvisL1ves, but don’t people do some pretty fucked up shit while they’re on crack?
[/QUOTE]
Yep, that’s all I meant. Could be a psycho, too, certainly.
When such a deranged thing happens within a year after the birth of a child, I first think of post partum psychosis rather than “evil.” And I think there are a lot of women who become psychotic (not just depressed) that we don’t even hear about.
It happened to someone who married into our family – a lovely and intelligent woman with a warm personality. Her children were temporarily sent to live with grandparents.
Many people just don’t realize how quickly hormones and brain chemistry can alter the very core of who you are. Imagine an experiment with drugs that you don’t come down from for months – only it is very paranoid.
That’s one good reason to presume this woman innocent until proven guilty.
Not even if you’ve already got a tendancy towards psychoticness? I think even WEED might even increase psychotic tendancies, in SOME people. (not anti weed, but there has been some corralation with weed usage and clinically psychotic DSM behavoirs.
What about meth? I seem to recall reading in my lurking days, about a VERY violent rape by a man on meth(greatest pain you can every imagine thread)…and meth usage does have WICKED high rates of child abuse.
Talking about psychosis, my mother had a depression induced psychotic outbreak some months ago; I had to physically restrain her while she raved about killing me because “it would be fun” and tried to poke my eyes out.
When people go crackers morality and humanity go out of the window.
[QUOTE=42Geek]
Not even if you’ve already got a tendancy towards psychoticness? I think even WEED might even increase psychotic tendancies, in SOME people. (not anti weed, but there has been some corralation with weed usage and clinically psychotic DSM behavoirs.
What about meth? I seem to recall reading in my lurking days, about a VERY violent rape by a man on meth(greatest pain you can every imagine thread)…and meth usage does have WICKED high rates of child abuse.
[/QUOTE]
Meth and crack are very different drugs. However, I agree with Zoe that my first thought was that this woman was PPS. My second thought was that the babysitter could very well have done it. Most drug addicts don’t kill their children; they may neglect them, but a horrendous murder such as this has all the earmarks of a person who stepped off the edge of her mind.
Now…I’m not sure what evidence took them off the babysitter’s trail, but it sounds like there’s something drawing their focus to the mother. There may be evidence that she was high, may have sought treatment for PPS or family members may have reported PPS-like behaviors. We probably won’t hear the details until the trial. I’ll hold judgement on her until then.
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
I don’t know. This story is comprehensible to me. Not justifiable but comprehensible. I can at least get my head around the idea of abandoning a newborn in an act of desperation. Actually keeping it for a month and then torturing it to death from the inside out…that’s a much darker place than I’m able to travel.
[/QUOTE]
I agree. There is a theory that women like Drexler don’t even think of the baby/fetus as a child, much less their child. There is a complete absence of bonding. The woman does not do any of the mental preparation or nesting that a willing expectant mother would, she just copes from moment to moment and when she delivers, it’s not the beginning of a new life, it’s a messy problem she has to clean up.
China took a whole month to (allegedly) murder her child. I agree that the idea was to kill the baby without leaving any marks.
[QUOTE=Zoe]
When such a deranged thing happens within a year after the birth of a child, I first think of post partum psychosis rather than “evil.” And I think there are a lot of women who become psychotic (not just depressed) that we don’t even hear about.
[/QUOTE]
I have to agree. I’ve known two women in my life who have been victims of this terrible mental illness. Both of them did things that they never would have dreamed of doing if they were in their right minds.
Sure, there’s a possibiity that this woman is just evil, but I think that it’s probably more likely she had a mental breakdown. She needs psychiatric help, not condemnation.