Sentence in death of newborn called disturbing, unusual

[CHIMO]

Sentence in death of newborn called disturbing, unusual
Last Updated: Thursday, September 28, 2006 | 1:20 PM MT
CBC News

Legal experts and social advocates are criticizing a second-degree murder verdict handed down to a young mother who tossed her newborn into a neighbour's yard.

The verdict — which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison, with no chance of parole for 10 years — is merciless and should be appealed, said Chris Levy, associate dean of law at the University of Calgary.

"It's extremely rare. I can't think of any cases off the top of my head where it's happened," he said. "The norm with infanticide sentences is that we try to help the person."

Katrina Effert had just turned 19 when she secretly gave birth in the basement of her parents' home in Wetaskiwin, 70 kilometres south of Edmonton.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2006/09/28/verdict-mother.html

[Kagemusha]

1. FYI for DU'ers, Canadian criminal law is 100% federal, same everywhere

So the same murder and the same infanticide laws apply countrywide. There's no state to state (province to province) difference.

So far as I understand it, a 2nd degree murder conviction is highly unusual in a case of infanticide. Whether that's right or wrong, I'm not qualified to say, but it is inconsistent.

[CHIMO]

2. Verdict appealed

The lawyer for a 20-year-old Wetaskiwin woman found guilty of murder for killing her newborn baby has appealed her conviction.

In a verdict that shocked many members of the legal community, a Court of Queen’s Bench jury found Katrina Effert guilty of second-degree murder for strangling her newborn with thong underwear and tossing the baby’s body into her neighbour’s yard. She was sentenced to the mandatory life term without chance of parole for 10 years.

Her lawyer, Sheila Schumacher, said she filed the appeal of the verdict this morning. She hopes the appeal will allow Effert to be released on bail while awaiting the outcome.

The small town southeast of Edmonton has a reputation for imposing harsh justice. For years, a joke has made the rounds among lawyers and Crown prosecutors that “crime costs more in Wetaskiwin” — a takeoff on the jingle by local auto dealerships that “cars cost less in Wetaskiwin.”

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/story.html?id=50fbb572-e604-4f9a-9c57-b5c3368d02f8&k=0

Edmonton ads meant to overcome outsider misconceptions

Edmonton ads meant to overcome outsider misconceptions
Last Updated: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 | 2:58 PM MT
CBC News

Edmonton is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to convince Canadians there's more to the city than a giant shopping mall, the Oilers and the Great One.

Edmonton has earmarked $435,000 for commercials that play up how little Canadians know about Alberta's capital city.

The 15-second ads feature Canadians from across the country who cannot answer questions about the city.

The series, called Edmonton Educates, will run on TV and the internet, directing Canadians to a website of the same name with facts about Alberta's capital.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2006/09/27/edmonton-educates.html

[Erika]

3. Why is the father not mentioned? n/t

[CHIMO]

4. Tried

In vain to find the reference but couldn't.

From news reports on the radio, apparently he did not want to be with her if she had a child. And she wanted to stay with him.

Unfortunately the only paper in town is a neocon paper and one can't get any info from that data base.

[judaspriestess]

5. wtf, she strangled the baby and then tossed it

and this shithead doesn't know what birth control is at NINETEEN? no sympathy from me. what a waste all the way around.

[CHIMO]

6. Yep

She must have been kind of stupid.

Or maybe intent on having a child and killing it? Or maybe she..

Aw shit. All this thinking is tiring. Just simply solve the problem. Just common sense. Right?

[Sticky]

10. I know someone who committed infanticide.

She got pregnant again 5 years later and the county stepped in to remove her baby at birth. (The baby came here as I am a foster parent for the county) I got to know the mom well over the next 2 weeks while she had temporary visits with the baby and she was naive and sweet.

She lived in an isolated area (extremely rural, outhouses and everything) and her mom died when she was 3. She was raised by her drunken father and learning disabled older brother. There had never been any intervention in that family - none!

She was raped at 12 by her brother, gave birth in an outhouse later and left the baby to die. She was terrified, ashamed and confused......still a little girl at 12 and having been a victim of incest her whole life, she was put away for 2 years. She got counseling and later moved into an assisted living environment, from there she got a job, met a man and got pregnant again.
She will never be allowed to keep a baby but her life is certainly better than it was.

(BTW The RCMP found the remains while answering a call about animal cruelty)

[noonwitch]

8. I'd say that she got a more than fair sentence

Life with no parole eligibility for 10 years? She wouldn't get that for 2nd degree in the US, although if she was proven mentally ill, she might be able to plead that.

[sam sarrha]

7. medical/psychological conditions need to be considered not F'n kneeJerks and

bible bangers legislating from a mob with pitchforks and torches.

[AngryAmish]

9. We must treat new mothers as children

They can't rightly decide whether to enter contracts, buy real estate or whether or not to carry their babies to term. Because of hormones and the vapors and whatnot. They are fragile little creatures who need taking care of - because of their fragile condition. Too much worrying could cause them weakness in their wombs......

OR

This woman was of age and killed a baby. She. Killed. A. Baby. Off to jail she goes. She is a menace.

[Doremus]

12. I think people who see in black and white in a world of gray are menaces.

[alcibiades_mystery]

14. You either don't believe in mental illness

Or you don't believe that only people with a minimum of agency should be found guilty of crimes.

Either way, the beliefs are barbaric and ignorant.

Of course nobody is saying that EVERYONE who does this sort of thing has a real mental illness, however much you'd like to trumpet that particular strawman. But SOME do, and that's what you seem perpetually unable to acknowledge.

[AngryAmish]

16. Of course mental illness exists

The jury heard about her claims of mental illness. They, evidently, didn't believe it. They heard the evidence. We did not. To criticize from afar a finding of guilt with little or knowledge of what actually went on at trial is a textbook example of a knee-jerk reaction based on stereotypes.

I think it infantilizes women to think that they can't be as sick and evil as men. Infanticide is routinely discounted because of the paternalistic notion that women who kill are automatically either disturbed or driven to it. Maybe, just maybe, she viewed this child as a nuisance and it deserved to die. One can also infer that from the facts in the article.

[Marnieworld]

17. Mitigating circumstances

Definition:

n. in criminal law, conditions or happenings which do not excuse or justify criminal conduct, but are considered out of mercy or fairness in deciding the degree of the offense the prosecutor charges or influencing reduction of the penalty upon conviction. Example: a young man shoots his father after years of being beaten, belittled, sworn at and treated without love. "Heat of passion" or "diminished capacity" are forms of such mitigating circumstances.

Also:
diminished capacity
n. essentially a psychological term which has found its way into criminal trials. A contention of diminished capacity means that although the accused was not insane, due to emotional distress, physical condition or other factors he/she could not fully comprehend the nature of the criminal act he/she is accused of committing, particularly murder or attempted murder. It is raised by the defense in attempts to remove the element of premeditation or criminal intent and thus obtain a conviction for a lesser crime, such as manslaughter instead of murder.

I'm glad that the law has more understanding and compassion for the human condition than you apparently do.

[MrPrax]

11. Screwball Hillbillies in Alberta...

The woman poses no threat to the public, so the sentence is excessive to say the least.

Typical of what can be expected by juries tainted with people on a steady diet of vengeance, TV crime news and a sense of their own self-righteousness. Even the Crown was shocked by the verdict and the 19 hours of jury deliberation.

It certainly doesn't sound like a jury of their peers -- she'll win on appeal without much problem. I wouldn't be surprised if Appeals ends up tossing the whole sentence out as a potential Charter violation because it is out of sync with what is generally accepted by the Courts traditionally as a 'fair' sentence. I can't find anything regarding the judge's instructions to the jury -- I bet that is one avenue of appeals.

It might be one of those 'activist' judges they got there in Alberta that presume that a little oil money and the Bible is a far better judge of things than the collective wisdom of common law going back 50 years.

[theHandpuppet]

15. There are hillbillies in Alberta?

I'm a hillbilly and you sure fooled me on that one.

Just sign me -- American hillbilly tired of cliches, stereotypes and slurs.

[Nye Bevan]

13. If she had strangled *my* baby

I would not think that the sentence was too harsh.

And I'm not sure why strangling her *own* baby should get her a lighter sentence.

[daleo]

18. A few other details of the case

- Her boyfriend was (allegedly) abusive.
- She was afraid to tell her parents about the pregnancy due to their religious scruples about premarital sex. The family (including herself) was very anti-abortion.
- She had the baby alone in the basement.
- She was reported to have "sub-normal intelligence".
- This is a rural area of Alberta, but not isolated. It is about an hour from one city of a million people (Edmonton) and about two hours from another (Calgary).

In my opinion, she wasn't really in her right mind, and should be treated with leniency. It's not like this is something that occurs very frequently, so I don't see any deterrence value to harsh treatment.

I think the jury was probably was probably trying to make some kind of vague anti-abortion statement. The judge couldn't tell the jury that the minimum sentence for second degree murder was 10 years, so they probably didn't realize the full implications of their decision.