Guest guest Posted July 11, 2011 Report Share Posted July 11, 2011 I did not follow the trial and have not followed the case but I did briefly watch the commentary on the verdict. One thing that stood out to me was one attorney commenting on the fact that the prosecution proved means and opportunity but they did not prove motive. Even from my very limited knowledge of this case I have gleaned that the mother shows signs of psychopathy. It made me a bit depressed, to realize that it is probable that a jury is thinking of something like this as a 'crime of passion', and attributing an adult emotional process to someone who might not be capable of it. I.e. horrible crime= deep emotional disturbance or 'passion' or something such as that. I have heard over and over again that borderlines and narcissists operate out of 'whim'. They do what they want to do or feel like doing, at the moment. It just bothered me that jury might not understand that lack of emotion might be just as responsible for a crime like this, than presence of deep pain or desperation. I always believed about the case, that she was highly dissociative because of sexual abuse. Now I even wonder about that...but these two defendents seem very different. It has been on my mind a bit, not so much the particular case but the inability of a jury to understand the mental process of a sociopath...when I heard this theory about 'lack of motive' it really depressed me. Just wanting to throw that out here and see if anyone else related. Sometimes I think it's a miracle so many of us survive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 11, 2011 Report Share Posted July 11, 2011 Yeah - I also am not following this closely. But the little bit I have heard and seen - can't escape hearing and seeing - I definitely did think to myself BPD or some other mental issue. Crime of Passion or 'motive' just doesn't cover all cases. I think especially it was the behavior afterwards, that showed that she simply didn't care about her kid in a normal way. I know it's easy to diagnose from the sidelines, so who knows what's really going on in this case. But I agree that the general public doesn't really understand sociopaths, and that the law sort of leaves them out. They aren't really insane in the legal definition, but they aren't sane either. -Terri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.