Jury Selected in Death of Texas Sons (Stoned to death)

[Snazzy]

Jury Selected in Death of Texas Sons

The Associated Press
Friday, March 26, 2004; 12:17 AM

TYLER, Texas - A jury of eight men and four women was selected Thursday for the murder trial of a woman accused of stoning her two young sons and severely injuring another.

Deanna LaJune Laney is charged with the bludgeoning deaths of Joshua, 8, and Luke, 6, on Mother's Day last year in the family's back yard near Tyler, about 100 miles east of Dallas.

Laney faces a charge of injury to a child for head injuries to her son, Aaron, now 2.

The trial is set to begin Monday and is expected to last one to two weeks.

....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25668-2004Mar26.html

The Texas Taliban. Note the kid's names.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Here's a much more thorough article

Potential jurors were asked whether they or someone close to them had ever cared for young children, taken drugs for mental problems, or had a child die.

Attorneys for the New Chapel Hill housewife have said they intend to use an insanity defense.

snip
Expert witnesses, two for the defense and two for the prosecution, agree Mrs. Laney was legally insane at the time of the killings. The findings of a court-appointed expert have not been made public, but he is expected to agree with the other doctors. Files said it was likely he would call the doctor as a witness.

The doctors determined Mrs. Laney had four psychotic episodes prior to the killings. They agreed her mental disorder probably began about three years before, and said she suffers from "psychotic delusional disorder," defense and prosecuting attorneys have said.

Why the state and defense decided to go forward with a jury trial has been questioned because mental health experts, who evaluated the defendant individually, have agreed Mrs. Laney was insane at the time of the stonings.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1994&dept_id=226369&newsid=11174229&PAG=461&rfi=9

[Dookus]

2. Clearly, she's insane

and it's referenced in the article. I wouldn't draw any conclusions based on religion.

[Snazzy]

3. Of course she's insane

Killed her kids via stoning.

That she derived her MO, insane or not, from the bible is my conjecture.

(Should mention: please pay little attention to my avatar, not against religion, just like rationality and science better).

[Dookus]

4. And I'm an atheist

and a rationalist, too. But in this case, I just feel sorry for everybody involved, and don't feel like turning this tragedy into an anti-religion issue.

[nemo137]

5. true, but

drawing attention to the names as some sort of evidence that religion caused their deaths is... wrong may not be the word, but definately slanted. biblically derived names are fairly common in america, and not just among fundementalists, either.

[Snazzy]

6. ok, slanted

But it wasn't just the names. It was the STONING, plus the names that caused me to suggest conclusions from limited information.

I'm aware that I shouldn't do that. Think I wrote a paper on just that back in the day. That is wrong.

And clearly it is a tragedy.

But if you do indeed make a cocktail of Texas, crazy fundamentalists that are seemingly everywhere (notably in the WH) and the insane who may act it out literally, I'm curious about it.

Think that goes to the root of the problem, really.

Whether this supports this theory or not, I do not know.

[Dookus]

7. Maybe true...

but she's psychotic. She would've done something horrible whether she was Jewish, Muslim or atheist. Perhaps she *IS* a Christian, but she would've done something insane regardless.

[Snazzy]

9. But for what reason?

Even the insane have some method or pattern, however convoluted the actions, however removed from responsibility we judge that person to be.

I'd put it something like: Personality meets brain disorder and either copes with circumstances or fails.

But what caused the failure?

Insanity, whatever blend, has some animus and then operates within the strange rules it produces. Generally, it is accepted as not random, or whole schools of psychologists and shrinks would need new jobs.

[Snazzy]

10. CNN at indictment (May)

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/05/12/slain.children/

Not to belabor this, but thought I'd get more facts.

She is an Evangelical Christian, First Assembly of God Church, Tyler Texas. (Sang in choir).

Her Brother-in-Law is the pastor there.

According to CNN, County Sheriff J. B. Smith said: "Laney told authorities that God told her to kill her children."

Sure as hell and damnation sounds like religion played a role to me.

Not to mention all those bits about stoning in the bible. And literal interpretations. Probably should put her brother-in-law in jail too.

(edit typo title)

[American Renaissance]

8. community service?

Maybe she could be sentenced to serve as Atny. Gen if Ashcroft has to retire for medical reasons.