I didn't defend any of that.

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

Why? Would 10 more years make a difference? Her kids having their mom might be good. If she murders them, I'll say I was wrong, but this one seems a lot better to take a chance on than some of the others that have been let go. I understand how this can happen though, I don't feel that way about some other crimes.

Perfectly stated.

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

I think the case is troubling Spiral not just because the woman is being released, but the way the article is being written, it seems to write off the murder as just some unfortunate mistake. I mean, even JLN pointed out the “wording”. Like it was passive, as if her delusions of hearing voices can be explained away as a momentary lapse of judgement.

That might be believable if in a moment of panic and anger, she grabbed the child by the neck and pressed too hard. I’ve seen cases like that happen on court shows, or true crime shows. That can at least be looked as…it was a horrible moment. Still should be prosecuted, still should be punished. But maybe that can be re-addressed after 20 years of redeeming yourself.
But murder is about intent, and the intent was to *kill* the child. Not shut her up. This wasn’t a case where she put her hand over the baby’s mouth angrily and kept it there until she stopped breathing. She forcibly put something in the baby’s mouth, bound her, and suffocated her until she was dead. If she did that to a peer, or someone older than her, would she be given the same second chance? Should she? That opens up a whole other can of worms.
So what seems to bother him, and he can correct me if I’m wrong, is that what he foresees is people taking advantage of this mindset—not just the mindset of the woman trying to get out of jail—but the mindset of people like Coleman (who sounds more like a defense attorney than a prosecutor here), and the writer of the article. The fear of a court that would be willing to forgive, at this point, something like this. Forget us plebes, the system itself could change. Though I wouldn’t say she “got off free” since she did do 20 years of time.

The intent in this case isn’t much different than Eric Smith who bludgeoned a 4 year-old to death when he was 12. He didn’t just take out his aggression on this kid, he thoroughly beat him, and even sodomized him. That’s why he’ll stay in prison for the rest of his life. According to whatever I’ve read about him, he’s fully remorseful and seemingly stable. But he should *never* get out of prison, because if you have a mindset, anytime in your life, that allows you to go that far…that means there is something in your brain that’s broken and can’t be fixed. And I wouldn’t be comfortable letting someone like that back into society. Growing up in abusive households is almost a calling card for serial killers. Are we giving them a pass too?

Plenty of mothers out there have been put in the exact same position as that woman, with post partum depression, and the outcome wasn’t murder.

This is a depressing thread but that made it worth reading so far. Almost spit up my drink while reading that and laughing

I think it is different from Eric Smith's case but could see having a discussion that it's not.

These cases are pretty rare and I think that's because most people aren't capable of it or it takes a special kind of crazy.